Diapositiva 1

1
JRP6 INCREASING CANCER TREATMENT EFFICACY USING
3D BRACHYTHERAPY TP 2 HEALTH

• JRP OBJECTIVES
• Brachytherapy is a particular radiotherapy
  technique in which small encapsulated radioactive
  sources are placed inside or in close proximity
  to the treatment volume delivering a high dose to
  the tumour at small distances while sparing the
  surrounding tissue. Over the recent years the
  brachytherapy treatments have increased in Europe
  and in the rest of the world but for these
  treatments there is a need for more accurate
  source dosimetry with fine spatial resolution.
  The absorbed dose is the quantity of interest for
  dosimetry in brachytherapy treatments. No
  absorbed-dose primary standards are so far
  available to assure traceability in dosimetry of
  brachytherapy sources. Currently the absorbed
  dose in brachytherapy is determined indirectly by
  a conversion procedure starting from measurements
  that are traceable to air kerma standards. This
  conversion procedure is a source of additional
  uncertainty for the absorbed dose imparted to the
  patient and this uncertainty can influence
  negatively the clinical success.
• The JRP aims at
• establishing across Europe a metrological basis
  in an important medical application of ionizing
  radiation ? the brachytherapy ? by a
  significant improvement of the accuracy on the
  absorbed dose imparted to the cancer patients in
  brachytherapy treatments
• responding to the necessity for the traceability
  to absorbed dose to water primary standards of
  the dose measurements in the clinical use of the
  new brachytherapy radiation sources
• optimising brachytherapy treatments by
  accounting for the strong spatial variation of
  absorbed dose due to brachytherapy sources
• developing high resolution methods to allow an
  accurate determination of 3D dose distributions
• promoting a new international protocol for
  dosimetry in brachytherapy based on the absorbed
  dose standards in place of the current air kerma
  standards.

PARTICIPANTS IN THE JRP COORDINATOR Dr. Maria
Pia Toni INMRI-ENEA, Istituto Nazionale di
Metrologia delle Radiazioni Ionizzanti - Ente
per le Nuove tecnologie lEnergia e lAmbiente,
Italy PARTNERS BEV, Bundesamt für Eich- und
Vermessungswesen, Austria CMI, Czech Metrology
Institute Inspectorate for Ionizing Radiation,
Czech Republic ITN(LMRI), Instituto
Tecnológico e Nuclear, Portugal LNE-LNHB,
Laboratoire National Henri Becquerel, France
NMI-VSL, NMi Van Swinden Laboratorium BV,
Netherlands NPL, National Physical Laboratory,
United Kingdom PTB, Physikalisch-Technischen
Bundesanstalt, Germany SSI, Swedish Radiation
Protection Authority, Sweden STUK,
Säteilyturvakeskus Radiation and Nuclear Safety
Authority, Finland

• CONTRIBUTION TOWARDS THE AIM OF THE TP
• The metrological research of the JRP will
  contribute to the "improvement of procedures and
  better knowledge of multidimensional dose
  distribution delivered to patients for
  radiodiagnostic and radiotherapy", and to the
  "realisation of new devices for the traceable
  characterisation of radiation sources, as
  explicitly requested by the EMRP Call.
• In the long term, the most relevant contribution
  of this project will be the improvement of the EU
  citizen life by increasing the brachytherapy
  treatments efficacy. Consequently, loss of human
  lives and considerable economic losses will be
  reduced.

• WORKPACKAGES AND MAJOR DELIVERABLES
• WP1 JRP Management and Coordination
• WP leader INMRI-ENEA -Active partners BEV, CMI,
  ITN-LMRI, LNE-LNHB, NMI-VSL, NPL, PTB, SSI, STUK
  -Resources 18.0 man months
• Reports by the partners, the WP leaders and the
  JRP coordinator (4, 10, 16, 22, 28)
• Meetings of the Steering Committee and of the
  Coordination Board, including Go/No-Go review (0,
  6, 12, 18, 24, 30, 36)
• Project-dedicated Web site and Project close
  out checklist (6)
• Check points (milestones) related to progress in
  WP2 and WP3 (12, 18, 21).
• WP2 Development and commissioning of a primary
  standards system for measurement of the absorbed
  dose to water due to low dose rate brachytherapy
  sources (aim for an uncertainty u(Dw) 2, k1)
• WP leader LNE-LNHB -Active partners INMRI-ENEA,
  PTB -Resources 97.5 man months
• Characterization of low dose rate brachytherapy
  seed batches in terms of active source dimensions
  and purity (12)
• Development of two different wide-angle
  water-equivalent extrapolation chambers and
  construction (12), Monte Carlo and experimental
  determination of physical parameters and
  correction factors (20), comparisons and
  commissioning for use in WP4 and WP5 (28)
• WP3 Development and commissioning of primary
  standards system for measurement of the absorbed
  dose to water due to high dose rate brachytherapy
  sources (aim for an uncertainty u(Dw) 2, k1)
• WP leader NPL -Active partners INMRI-ENEA,
  NMI-VSL, PTB -Resources 89.5 man months
• Accurate characterization of high dose rate
  brachytherapy sources by experimental methods and
  Monte Carlo calculations (14)
• Development of two different water calorimeters
  and two different graphite calorimeters
  construction (12) Monte Carlo and experimental
  determination of physical parameters and
  correction factors (24), comparisons and
  commissioning for use in WP4 and WP5 (28)
• WP4 Absorbed-dose-to-water-based metrology chain
  for low and high dose rate brachytherapy sources
• WP leader PTB -Active partners BEV, INMRI-ENEA,
  LNE-LNHB, NMI-VSL, NPL -Resources 26.1 man
  months
• Experimental determination of the dose rate
  constant ? for brachytherapy sources (aim for an
  uncertainty u(?) lt 3, k 1) (30)
• Calibration procedure of well-type chambers in
  terms of absorbed dose to water (32)

• SCIENTIFIC/TECHNOLOGICAL EXCELLENCE OF THE JRP
• To develop this JRP, advanced capabilities are
  required for treating both the experimental and
  computational aspects of the project
• Most of the experimental means ? (as, for
  example, graphite and water calorimeters ? ) that
  this JRP intends to design and construct require
  a specific expertise available just in few
  metrological laboratories in the world
• The partners of this JRP are among the major
  world-wide experts in the technologies that are
  to be developed in the project.

• QUALITY/EFFICIENCY OF JRP CONSORTIUM AND THE JRP
  IMPLEMENTATION
• To achieve the objectives of the project, the
  research and measurement capabilities of ten of
  the best national metrology laboratories in the
  field of ionizing radiation measurements are
  brought together
• In each deliverable a significant number of
  participants are involved and each of them brings
  in the project his own best capabilities
• Most of the partner NMIs have a long experience
  in the study, design and construction of the
  primary and secondary standards for air kerma and
  absorbed dose measurement in a wide range of
  radiation qualities. All of these NMIs have a
  broad experience in dosimetric procedures and
  related Monte Carlo calculations so that the
  whole group of the institutes achieves a critical
  mass to accomplish the objectives of the project.
• Many partner NMIs have contributed to the
  preparation and publication of national and
  international guides and codes of practice for
  quality assurance in dosimetry.

• JRP IMPACT
• By this collaborative project a strengthened
  impact -compared to the dispersed individual
  initiatives- will be achieved
• The dissemination of the JRP results is of
  direct interest for the international community
  of radiotherapy centres performing brachytherapy
  clinical treatments
• All the partner NMIs have a recognized
  scientific position -in their respective
  countries as well as in the international
  community- and have many opportunities
  (conferences, workshops, working groups,
  commissions, etc.) to disseminate the results at
  national and international level. In particular
  they have direct links with the radiotherapy
  centres in their respective countries, thus the
  dissemination of the JRP results will be
  effective and will impact directly on the
  improvement of the EU citizen life
• In addition to the actions explicitly scheduled
  as JRP deliverables in WP6, each partner will
  actively promote the diffusion of the project
  outcomes for the largest exploitation of the
  project results.