Medical Physics

Research in Support of Proton Radiotherapy: Proton- and Neutron-Induced Target Fragmentation

Mohammad Rafiqul Islam

 

This work utilizes near-tissue equivalent CR-39 plastic nuclear track detector analyzed by means of atomic force microscopy to study the production of high-LET, short range (< 10 µm) heavy recoils resulting from nuclear interactions of energetic protons, neutrons, and heavy ions with heavy target nuclei various materials such as C and O in tissue and bone. One objective of this work is to determine the dose to healthy tissue from secondary neutrons outside the treatment field during proton radiotherapy. Another objective is to quantify the contribution to dose and dose equivalent to healthy tissue from nuclear interactions between primary energetic protons and target nuclei in the plateau of the proton Bragg curve.