Descripción del proyecto
The use of ultra-high dose rates (FLASH) in radiation therapy has emerged as a promising modality to treat cancer due to its unprecedented ability to reduce healthy tissue toxicity while ensuring tumor control. Towards ultra-high dose RAtes in Proton therapy: an Ionoacoustic approach for in vivo Dose monitoring (RAPID) project aims at providing new insights into the clinical benefits of proton FLASH radiotherapy by resolving the challenge of real-time dose monitoring. The action represents a powerful instrument to push the boundaries of cancer care with proton radiotherapy at three different levels: i) the optimization of an ionoacoustic imaging system for real-time pulse-based 3D dose monitoring, ii) the experimental evaluation of the physical requirements to achieve the FLASH effect by in vivo and in vitro studies under different beam conditions, and iii) the interpretation and optimization of the ionoacoustic signal response for different treatment plans. The ionoacoustic imaging technique, combined with an ultrasound system, will enable to image simultaneously tissue morphology and dose deposition of the beam. These technological advances will disentangle the complex and multiple variables influencing the yet unknown FLASH effect, as well as enabling the first systematic study combining FLASH dosimetry and tissue damage/toxicity response. The researcher will spend 24 months at the Department of Radiation Oncology at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School (Boston, USA) and 12 months at the Department of Atomic, Molecular and Nuclear Physics at University of Seville (USE, Spain) and Centro Nacional de Aceleradores – National Center of Accelerators, an USE joint research center.