universita' di pisa and INFN Pisa
Physics
I am associate professor at the Department of Physics of the University of Pisa and associate researcher at the National Institute for Nuclear Physics (INFN) in Pisa. My research experience is on instrumentation for medical imaging and dosimetry. A recent achievement is the commissioning and clinical validation at the CNAO center in Pavia of an imaging system for in vivo range verification in particle therapy. As INFN representative I am sitting in the scientific board of the newly established Pisa Center for Research and clinical implementation of Flash Radiotherapy (CPFR), a multi disciplinary center of the University and the Santa Chiara University Hospital of Pisa, CNR Neuroscience Institute and INFN section of Pisa. CPFR will be equipped, starting from April 2022, with a Linac dedicated for Flash research.

Presenter of 1 Presentation

INORGANIC SCINTILLATORS FOR FLASH-IORT DOSIMETRY: DEVELOPMENT AND TEST OF A LYSO DETECTOR PROTOTYPE

Session Type
FLASH in the Clinic Track (Oral Presentations)
Date
Thu, 02.12.2021
Session Time
11:00 - 12:00
Room
Room 2.31
Lecture Time
11:10 - 11:20

Abstract

Background and Aims

Fast and accurate active dosimeters are the key component to perform quantitative measurements in FLASH radiotherapy. No reference active dosimeters are currently available since most detectors show non recoverable saturation effects for dose-per-pulse (DPP) values typical of FLASH (1Gy/p or higher). Aim of this study is to develop and test a detector prototype based on inorganic scintillators for FLASH-IORT active dosimetry.

Methods

The detector prototype is composed of a LYSO scintillating crystal (2x2x10 mm^3) wrapped in 5 Teflon layers and coupled to an optical fiber 1.2 m long (0.980 mm diameter, PMMA core). The other end of the fiber is connected to a Photodiode (PD, Thorlabs - SM05PD7A) read out by a multimeter (Keithley 617) that integrates the PD photocurrent. The detector was placed in a PMMA support and covered with solid water slabs. The phantom was irradiated with a 7 MeV IORT electron LINAC (NOVAC7 from SIT, Aprilia, Italy) at different SSDs and depths in solid water to vary DPP at the detector position. The DPP spanned from conventional (3 cGy/pulse) to FLASH values (250 cGy/pulse). The DPP was evaluated by means of calibrated Gafchromic films.

lyso.jpg

iort.png

Results

The PD integrated charge was linear in the whole range of DPP values explored and 0.46 nC/Gy in sensitivity was measured.

sensitivity.png

Conclusions

Further measurements are planned to fully characterize the detector such as extend the DPP upper limit and investigate the dependency on the instantaneous DPP, but these first results indicate LYSO based detectors as promising candidates for FLASH-IORT active dosimetry.

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Author Of 1 Presentation

INORGANIC SCINTILLATORS FOR FLASH-IORT DOSIMETRY: DEVELOPMENT AND TEST OF A LYSO DETECTOR PROTOTYPE

Session Type
FLASH in the Clinic Track (Oral Presentations)
Date
Thu, 02.12.2021
Session Time
11:00 - 12:00
Room
Room 2.31
Lecture Time
11:10 - 11:20

Abstract

Background and Aims

Fast and accurate active dosimeters are the key component to perform quantitative measurements in FLASH radiotherapy. No reference active dosimeters are currently available since most detectors show non recoverable saturation effects for dose-per-pulse (DPP) values typical of FLASH (1Gy/p or higher). Aim of this study is to develop and test a detector prototype based on inorganic scintillators for FLASH-IORT active dosimetry.

Methods

The detector prototype is composed of a LYSO scintillating crystal (2x2x10 mm^3) wrapped in 5 Teflon layers and coupled to an optical fiber 1.2 m long (0.980 mm diameter, PMMA core). The other end of the fiber is connected to a Photodiode (PD, Thorlabs - SM05PD7A) read out by a multimeter (Keithley 617) that integrates the PD photocurrent. The detector was placed in a PMMA support and covered with solid water slabs. The phantom was irradiated with a 7 MeV IORT electron LINAC (NOVAC7 from SIT, Aprilia, Italy) at different SSDs and depths in solid water to vary DPP at the detector position. The DPP spanned from conventional (3 cGy/pulse) to FLASH values (250 cGy/pulse). The DPP was evaluated by means of calibrated Gafchromic films.

lyso.jpg

iort.png

Results

The PD integrated charge was linear in the whole range of DPP values explored and 0.46 nC/Gy in sensitivity was measured.

sensitivity.png

Conclusions

Further measurements are planned to fully characterize the detector such as extend the DPP upper limit and investigate the dependency on the instantaneous DPP, but these first results indicate LYSO based detectors as promising candidates for FLASH-IORT active dosimetry.

Hide