PET imaging of implanted radiotherapy ion beams to monitor and optimise dose delivery to tumor sites

A secondary, focused beam of /sup 18/F developed at the NSCL (National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory), E/A=20 MeV/u, was implanted into a foil-stack phantom. The radioactivity ( beta /sup +/, T/sub 1/2/=110 m) of the stopped beam was imaged at the University of Michigan Positron Emission Tomography (PET) facility using a multiring PET scanner. The possibility of accurately localizing the dose of radiotherapy beams in tumors and obtaining quantitative information on the distribution of stopped beams using a commercial PET scanner was verified. Further work using light-ion (protons in particular) and other beams is in progress, and some preliminary results are reported.<
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