Challenge of shielding design for FLASH radiotherapy
10.3760/cma.j.cn112271-20221107-00435
- VernacularTitle:闪速放射治疗(FLASH)技术对机房屏蔽设计带来的挑战
- Author:
Hongkai WANG
1
;
Minghui LI
;
Chuanmeng NIU
;
Yixin SONG
;
Dongsheng HAN
;
Kuo MEN
;
Jianrong DAI
Author Information
1. 国家癌症中心/国家肿瘤临床医学研究中心/中国医学科学院北京协和医学院肿瘤医院放疗科，北京 100021
- Keywords:
Radiation protection;
Dose limit;
Instantaneous dose rate;
Standards
- From:
Chinese Journal of Radiological Medicine and Protection
2023;43(8):653-656
- CountryChina
- Language:Chinese
-
Abstract:
Compared with conventional radiotherapy, FLASH radiotherapy has advantages in protecting normal tissues, while the dose rate is increased by more than 100 times. If the shielding design of the treatment room is carried out according to the existing standard, the thickness and cost of the shielding wall will be significantly increased, or even hardly to meet the requirement of the standards, resultsing in the failure of the application of FLASH radiotherapy. By investigating the domestic and foreign standards and literature, this paper analyzes the challenges brought by FLASH radiotherapy technology to the shielding design of radiotherapy treatment room in China. Dose rate control standards adopted by different countries in the shielding design are emphatically compared as well. In several countries, the average dose rate under the actual treatment conditions was considered in the shielding design. In China, the method of instantaneous dose rate taking acount of occupancy factor is adopted. However, if FLASH radiotherapy technology is applied, the requirement of instantaneous dose rate will be difficult to meet. In order to improve the high dose rate radiotherapy technology such as FLASH radiotherapy, the revision of the existing standards is advised if the authorized limits are not changed. To use the average dose rate limit within a certain period of time for control, or to raise the control standard in the case of flash radiotherapy, are also avaliable.
