Gamma-Neutron Vision aimed at improved cancer treatments in Hadron Therapy

Objetivo

Proton therapy represents one of the most recent and adavanced tools in cancer treatment, especially for complex cases and pediatric patients. Despite its exponential deployment worldwide, hadron therapy still faces two main limitations, which are related to: i) accurate ion-range verification and ii) assessment of the secondary (unwanted) neutron dose. The present proposal presents an innovative tool, that can help to improve this situation and thus increase the potential benefits of hadron therapy. This project focuses on a portable device, that can simultaneously image both gamma-rays and thermal neutrons, which are ineluctably produced during the treatment. On one hand, imaging thermal neutrons may help to quantify more reliably the secondary neutron dose received by the patient during therapy. Complementary gamma-ray imaging is accomplished with the same apparatus by means of electronic collimation, thus enabling real-time assessment of the ion-range. In terms of gamma-vision, the system has been recently tested in pre-clinical conditions at CNA-Seville and HIT-Heidelberg. This POC project aims therefore at demonstrating the additional neutron-vision capability, thereby elevating the full GNVision system to TRL6, and addressing its commercial viability in the health-sector.