SU-E-T-388: Estimating the Radioactivity Inventory of a Cyclotron Based Pencil Beam Proton Therapy Facility

Abstract

Purpose: Parts of the cyclotron and energy degrader are incidentally activated by protons lost during the acceleration and transport of protons for radiation therapy. An understanding of the radioactive material inventory is needed when regulatory requirements are assessed. Methods: First, the tumor dose and volume is used to determine the required energy deposition. For spot scanning, the tumor length along the beam path determines the number of required energy layers. For each energy layer the energy deposition per proton can be calculated from the residual proton range within the tumor. Assuming a typical layer weighting, an effective energy deposition per proton can then be calculated. The total number of required protons and the number of protons per energy layer can then be calculated. For each energy layer, proton losses in the energy degrader are calculated separately since its transmission efficiency, and hence the amount of protons lost, is energy dependent. The degrader efficiency also determines the number of protons requested from the cyclotron. The cyclotron extraction efficiency allows a calculation of the proton losses within the cyclotron. The saturation activity induced in the cyclotron and the degrader is equal to the production rate R for isotopes whose half-life is shorter that the projected cyclotron life time. R can be calculated from the proton loss rate and published production cross sections. Results: About 1/3 of the saturation activity is produced in the cyclotron and 2/3 in the energy degrader. For a projected case mix and a patient load of 1100 fractions per week at 1.8 Gy per fraction a combined activity of 180 mCi was estimated at saturation. Conclusion: Calculations were used to support to application of a radioactive materials license for the possession of 200 mCi of activity for isotopes with atomic numbers ranging from 1-83.