Bragg Peak Localization with Piezoelectric Sensors for Proton Therapy Treatment

• Published in: Sensors (Basel, Switzerland) Vol. 20; no. 10; p. 2987
• Main Authors: Otero, Jorge, Felis, Ivan, Herrero, Alicia, Merchán, José A, Ardid, Miguel
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 25.05.2020; MDPI
• Subjects: Acoustic propagation; Acoustics; Bragg curve; Brain cancer; Computer Simulation; Deposition; Elastic waves; Energy; FEM method; hadrontherapy; Localization; Methods; Monitoring; monitoring Bragg peak; Monte Carlo Method; Monte Carlo simulations; Physical Phenomena; Physics; piezoelectric sensors; Position sensing; Propagation; Proton beams; Proton Therapy; Sensors; Signal processing; Simulation; Sound pressure; Thermoacoustics; Tumors; piezoelectric sensors; hadrontherapy; Monte Carlo simulations; FEM method; monitoring Bragg peak
• ISSN: 1424-8220; 1424-8220
• DOI: 10.3390/s20102987

A full chain simulation of the acoustic hadrontherapy monitoring for brain tumours is presented in this work. For the study, a proton beam of 100 MeV is considered. In the first stage, Geant4 is used to simulate the energy deposition and to study the behaviour of the Bragg peak. The energy deposition in the medium produces local heating that can be considered instantaneous with respect to the hydrodynamic time scale producing a sound pressure wave. The resulting thermoacoustic signal has been subsequently obtained by solving the thermoacoustic equation. The acoustic propagation has been simulated by FEM methods in the brain and the skull, where a set of piezoelectric sensors are placed. Last, the final received signals in the sensors have been processed in order to reconstruct the position of the thermal source and, thus, to determine the feasibility and accuracy of acoustic beam monitoring in hadrontherapy.