Prog Med Phys.  2022 Dec;33(4):114-120. 10.14316/pmp.2022.33.4.114.

Monte Carlo Investigation of Dose Enhancement due to Gold Nanoparticle in Carbon-12, Helium-4, and Proton Beam Therapy

• Ahn SH

• KMID: 2537879
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.14316/pmp.2022.33.4.114

Abstract

Purpose
Particle beam therapy is advantageous over photon therapy. However, adequately delivering therapeutic doses to tumors near critical organs is difficult. Nanoparticle-aided radiation therapy can be used to alleviate this problem, wherein nanoparticles can passively accumulate at higher concentrations in the tumor tissue compared to the surrounding normal tissue. In this study, we investigate the dose enhancement effect due to gold nanoparticle (GNP) when Carbon-12, He-4, and proton beams are irradiated on GNP.
Methods
First, monoenergetic Carbon-12 and He-4 ion beams of energy of 283.33 MeV/u and 150 MeV/u, respectively, and a proton beam of energy of 150 MeV were irradiated on a water phantom of dimensions 30 cm×30 cm×30 cm. Subsequently, the secondary-particle information generated near the Bragg peak was recorded in a phase-space (phsp) file. Second, the obtained phsp file was scaled down to a nanometer scale to irradiate GNP of diameter 50 nm located at the center of a 4 µm×4 µm×4 µm water phantom. The dose enhancement ratio (DER) was calculated in intervals of 1 nm from the GNP surface.
Results
The DER of GNP computed at 1 nm from the GNP surface was 4.70, 4.86, and 4.89 for Carbon-12, He-4, and proton beams, respectively; the DER decreased rapidly with increasing distance from the GNP surface.
Conclusions
The results indicated that GNP can be used as radiosensitizers in particle beam therapy. Furthermore, the dose enhancement effect of the GNP absorbed by tumor cells can aid in delivering higher therapeutic doses.

Keyword

Gold nanoparticle; Dose enhancement; Monte Carlo simulation; Radiosensitizer; Particle beam therapy

Figure

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  Fig. 1 Percentage depth dose distribution for (a) Carbon-12, (b) He-4, and (c) proton particle beams in a water phantom.

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  Fig. 2 Illustration of the Monte Carlo simulation geometry. GNP, gold nanoparticle; SAD, source axis distance.

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  Fig. 3 Radial dose enhancement ratios of secondary particles generated by gold nanoparticle.

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  Fig. 4 The result of dose imparted by the secondary particle generated per incident Carbon-12, He-4, and proton beam ionization.

Reference

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