Journal
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF RADIATION ONCOLOGY BIOLOGY PHYSICS
Volume 97, Issue 1, Pages 195-203Publisher
ELSEVIER SCIENCE INC
DOI: 10.1016/j.ijrobp.2016.09.018
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Funding
- Swedish Childhood Cancer Foundation
- American Association for Cancer Research
- Foundation BLANCEFLOR Boncompagni Ludovisi n'ee Bildt
- Weston Havens Foundation
- Wallace H Coulter Foundation
- Department of Radiation Oncology (Stanford University)
- Office of the Dean (School of Medicine, Stanford University)
- Office of the Provost (Stanford University)
- SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory
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Purpose: A key factor limiting the effectiveness of radiation therapy is normal tissue toxicity, and recent preclinical data have shown that ultra-high dose rate irradiation (>50 Gy/s, FLASH) potentially mitigates this effect. However, research in this field has been strongly limited by the availability of FLASH irradiators suitable for small animal experiments. We present a simple methodologic approach for FLASH electron small animal irradiation with a clinically available linear accelerator (LINAC). Methods and Materials: We investigated the FLASH irradiation potential of a Varian Clinac 21EX in both clinical mode and after tuning of the LINAC. We performed detailed FLUKA Monte Carlo and experimental dosimetric characterization at multiple experimental locations within the LINAC head. Results: Average dose rates of <= 74 Gy/s were achieved in clinical mode, and the dose rate after tuning exceeded 900 Gy/s. We obtained 220 Gy/s at 1-cm depth for a >4-cm field size with 90% homogeneity throughout a 2-cm-thick volume. Conclusions: We present an approach for using a clinical LINAC for FLASH irradiation. We obtained dose rates exceeding 200 Gy/s after simple tuning of the LINAC, with excellent dosimetric properties for small animal experiments. This will allow for increased availability of FLASH irradiation to the general research community. (C) 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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