Speaker
Description
External radiotherapy is one of the main cancer treatment strategies, it is based on accurately administering high doses of ionizing radiation to the tumor volume while ensuring the protection of the surrounding healthy organs. Treatment in radiotherapy is administered using linear accelerators; In these medical facilities, bremsstrahlung photons are created by the deceleration of high-energy electrons in a target material by the action of the Coulomb field of nuclei’s target. The intensity of these generated bremsstrahlung photons is mainly related to the incident electron beam energy, the atomic number Z of the target material, and its thickness.
The use of high Z material is essential to ensure high production of bremsstrahlung photons, however, the cross sections of photo-nuclear reactions are high for these materials, therefore photoneutrons will exit in and out of X-ray beams. These photoneutrons are causing many radiation protection concerns.
Recent advances in simulation studies on the production of bremsstrahlung photons by electron beams de-accelerating in target material have the potential to make a significant impact on radiotherapy linacs.
In this study, we are interested to investigate the Bremsstrahlung energy spectrums produced by various thin optimal target materials (Niobium (41), Silver (47), Gadolinium (64), Tungsten (74)), and we evaluate the neutron generated by those optimal targets using FLUKA Monte Carlo code, to give a clear indication for the selection of the optimal material to be used as the accelerator's target.
| Abstract Category | Medical Physics |
|---|
