Periodic Reporting for period 1 - BoneOscopy (Live Cell Spectroscopy Analysis for Personalised Particle Radiation Therapy of Metastatic Bone Cancer)
Reporting period: 2025-01-01 to 2025-12-31
Metastatic bone cancer is an incurable disease and one of the most complex cancers to treat. Due to the high dose, tumour imaging is currently performed at the beginning and end of standard particle radio-therapy (PRT), making personalised treatment difficult. The main goal of BoneOscopy is to develop a radically new technology to enable informed medical decisions by monitoring bone cancer on a daily basis during PRT. At the heart of BoneOscopy is the ability to detect prompt gamma (PGs) emitted by cancer during PRT and separate them from healthy tissue, unlocking the full potential of spectroscopic analysis without the need for additional dose. The development of a highly specialised detection and collimation system will enable accurate spectroscopic analysis of a very small volume or region within the cancer. As the number of PRT centres grows, we anticipate that within 10 years BoneOscopy will benefit all patients treated with proton and carbon ions. The objectives of BoneOscopy will be achieved by its interdisciplinary consortium, which brings together six partners from five European countries with key expertise in bioengineering and PRT (DKFZ), medical physics and engineering (CSIC), fast electronics for PRT (LIP), Monte Carlo simulations and clinical PRT experience (THM), turnkey software for high performance medical devices (Cosylab) and EU project management, communication and dissemination (accelCH). If achieved, the proposed science-to-technology breakthrough will have a transformative impact on current cancer treatment by providing a safe, personalised and quantitative measure of daily treatment efficacy, thereby contributing to the global fight against cancer. In summary, BoneOscopy will lead to a significant reduction in the health burden in Europe and worldwide, improved quality of life for patients, reduced costs for healthcare systems and improved sustainability of healthcare.
In WP1, which constituted the foundational phase of the project, the consortium delivered the Technical Design Report on Detectors and Electronics (D1.1) and the Conceptual Design for the DAQ system (D1.2). During this phase, the clinical requirements were successfully translated into precise and quantifiable engineering specifications. Key achievements included the finalisation of the detector geometry, the development of a design concept for high-speed DAQ electronics, and, crucially, the initial beam test results (D1.3). These beam tests validated the feasibility of the selected scintillation candidates and enabled a detailed characterisation of the clinical beam structure at the MIT facility.
In WP2, a comprehensive literature review and a series of meetings with the DKFZ 3D-printing groups were conducted to identify approaches that allow precise control of calcium content while maintaining structural stability. Based on these discussions, patient-like, 3D-printed bone scaffolds were conceptualised for preliminary BoneOscopy experiments under proton irradiation. The key design variables were defined as scaffold structure, porosity, density, and calcium content. The Gammex™ 467 phantom was selected as a reference for the development and validation of calcium quantification methods, as it provides well-characterised inserts with known elemental composition for comparison with the printed bone samples.
In WP3, the consortium finalised the geometry and crystal configuration of the primary detector, leveraging both the simulation and experimental results obtained in Work Package 1.
In WP4, we focused on the design and construction of the trigger detector head. The design activities build directly on the simulation and experimental results obtained in Work Package 1. Ongoing work includes the optimisation of the proposed detector solutions and the execution of initial measurements to validate their performance.
In WP5, the beam application and monitoring system (BAMS) of the Marburg Ion-Beam Therapy Center (MIT) was modelled using the Monte Carlo codes TOPAS and Geant4. The BAMS comprises five monitoring chambers: three ionisation chambers (ICs) used to monitor the particle rate and total particle count, and two multi-wire proportional counters (MWPCs) employed to monitor the beam position and width.
In WP2, a comprehensive literature review and a series of meetings with the DKFZ 3D-printing groups were conducted to identify approaches that allow precise control of calcium content while maintaining structural stability. Based on these discussions, patient-like, 3D-printed bone scaffolds were conceptualised for preliminary BoneOscopy experiments under proton irradiation. The key design variables were defined as scaffold structure, porosity, density, and calcium content. The Gammex™ 467 phantom was selected as a reference for the development and validation of calcium quantification methods, as it provides well-characterised inserts with known elemental composition for comparison with the printed bone samples.
In WP3, the consortium finalised the geometry and crystal configuration of the primary detector, leveraging both the simulation and experimental results obtained in Work Package 1.
In WP4, we focused on the design and construction of the trigger detector head. The design activities build directly on the simulation and experimental results obtained in Work Package 1. Ongoing work includes the optimisation of the proposed detector solutions and the execution of initial measurements to validate their performance.
In WP5, the beam application and monitoring system (BAMS) of the Marburg Ion-Beam Therapy Center (MIT) was modelled using the Monte Carlo codes TOPAS and Geant4. The BAMS comprises five monitoring chambers: three ionisation chambers (ICs) used to monitor the particle rate and total particle count, and two multi-wire proportional counters (MWPCs) employed to monitor the beam position and width.
We are currently in the development of the prototype. No results are currently available, beyond the prototype development.