A Monte Carlo Determination of Dose and Range Uncertainties for Preclinical Studies with a Proton Beam

Arthur Bongrand (1) , Charbel Koumeir (2) , Daphnée Villoing (1) , Arnaud Guertin (3) , Ferid Haddad (3, 2) , Vincent Métivier (3) , Freddy Poirier (2) , Vincent Potiron (1) , Noël Servagent (3) , Stéphane Supiot (1) , Grégory Delpon (1) , Sophie Chiavassa (1)

1 UNICANCER/ICO - Institut de Cancérologie de l'Ouest [Angers/Nantes]
2 GIP ARRONAX [Nantes]
3 SUBATECH - Laboratoire de physique subatomique et des technologies associées

Proton therapy (PRT) is an irradiation technique that aims at limiting normal tissue damage while maintaining the tumor response. To study its specificities, the ARRONAX cyclotron is currently developing a preclinical structure compatible with biological experiments. A prerequisite is to identify and control uncertainties on the ARRONAX beamline, which can lead to significant biases in the observed biological results and dose–response relationships, as for any facility. This paper summarizes and quantifies the impact of uncertainty on proton range, absorbed dose, and dose homogeneity in a preclinical context of cell or small animal irradiation on the Bragg curve, using Monte Carlo simulations. All possible sources of uncertainty were investigated and discussed independently. Those with a significant impact were identified, and protocols were established to reduce their consequences. Overall, the uncertainties evaluated were similar to those from clinical practice and are considered compatible with the performance of radiobiological experiments, as well as the study of dose–response relationships on this proton beam. Another conclusion of this study is that Monte Carlo simulations can be used to help build preclinical lines in other setups.

Domaines: Physique [physics]

Arthur Bongrand, Charbel Koumeir, Daphnée Villoing, Arnaud Guertin, Ferid Haddad, et al.. A Monte Carlo Determination of Dose and Range Uncertainties for Preclinical Studies with a Proton Beam. Contemporary Southeast Asia, 2021, 13 (8), pp.1889. ⟨10.3390/cancers13081889⟩. ⟨hal-03276141⟩