<p>Neutron stimulated emission computed tomography (NSECT) is a non-invasive, tomographic imaging technique with the ability to locate and quantify elemental concentration in a tissue sample. Previous studies have shown that NSECT has the ability to differentiate between benign and malignant tissue and diagnose liver iron overload while using a neutron beam tomographic acquisition protocol followed by iterative image reconstruction. These studies have shown that moderate concentrations of iron can be detected in the liver with moderate dose levels and long scan times. However, a low-dose, reduced scan time technique to differentiate various liver diseases has not been tested. As with other imaging modalities, the performance of NSECT in detecting different diseases while reducing dose and scan time will depend on the acquisition techniques and parameters that are used to scan the patients. In order to optimize a clinical liver imaging system based on NSECT, it is important to implement low-dose techniques and evaluate their feasibility, sensitivity, specificity and accuracy by analyzing the generated liver images from a patient population. This research work proposes to use Monte-Carlo simulations to optimize a clinical NSECT system for detection, localization, quantification and classification of liver diseases. This project has been divided into three parts; (a) implement two novel acquisition techniques for dose reduction, (b) modify MLEM iterative image reconstruction algorithm to incorporate the new acquisition techniques and (c) evaluate the performance of this combined technique on a simulated patient population. </p><p>The two dose-reduction, acquisition techniques that have been implemented are; (i) use of a single angle scanning, multi-detector acquisition system and (ii) the neutron-time resolved imaging (n-TRI) technique. In n-TRI, the NSECT signal has been resolved in time by a function of the speed of the incident neutron beam and this information has been used to locate the liver lesions in the tissue. These changes in the acquisition system have been incorporated and used to modify MLEM iterative image reconstruction algorithm to generate liver images. The liver images are generated from sinograms acquired by the simulated n-TRI based NSECT scanner from a simulated patient population.</p><p>The simulated patient population has patients of different sizes, with different liver diseases, multiple lesions with different sizes and locations in the liver. The NSECT images generated from this population have been used to validate the liver imaging system developed in this project. Statistical tests such as ROC and student t-tests have been used to evaluate this system. The overall improvement in dose and scan time as compared to the NSECT tomographic system have been calculated to verify the improvement in the imaging system. The patient dose was calculated by measuring the energy deposited by the neutron beam in the liver and surrounding body tissue. The scan time was calculated by measuring the time required by a neutron source to produce the neutron fluence required to generate a clinically viable NSECT image.</p><p>Simulation studies indicate that this NSECT system can detect, locate, quantify and classify liver lesions in different sized patients. The n-TRI imaging technique can detect lesions with wet iron concentration of 0.5 mg/g or higher in liver tissue in patients with 30 cm torso and can quantify lesions at 0.3 ns timing resolution with errors &#8804; 17.8%. The NSECT system can localize and classify liver lesions of hemochromatosis, hepatocellular carcinoma, fatty liver tissue and cirrhotic liver tissue based on bulk and trace element concentrations. In a small patient with a torso major axis of 30 cm, the n-TRI based liver imaging technique can localize 91.67% of all lesions and classify lesions with an accuracy of 88.23%. The dose to the small patient is 0.37 mSv a reduction of 39.9% as compared to the NSECT tomographic system and scan times are comparable to that of an abdominal MRI scan. In a bigger patient with a torso major axis of 50cm, the n-TRI based technique can detect 75% of the lesions, while localizing 66.67% of the lesions, the accuracy of classification is 76.47%. The effective dose equivalent delivered to the larger patient is 1.57 mSv for a 68.8% decrease in dose as compared to a tomographic NSECT system.</p><p>The research performed for this dissertation has two important outcomes. First, it demonstrates that NSECT has the clinical potential for detection, localization and classification of liver diseases in patients. Second, it provides a validation of the simulation of a novel low-dose liver imaging technique which can be used to guide future development and experimental implementation of the technique.</p> / Dissertation

En raison des forts gradients de dose générés par les interactions des particules avec la matière, les traitements par hadronthérapie nécessitent un contrôle très précis de la dose délivrée au patient. Les codes Monte Carlo représentent des outils indispensables dans la validation des systèmes de planification de traitement utilisé en clinique. Nous nous intéressons dans cette thèse au calcul de la dose physique à l'aide des simulations Monte Carlo Geant4/Gate. Nous étudions l'ajustement de plusieurs paramètres qui peuvent influencer la précision du calcul de dose requise en clinique (2%, 2mm) pour un faisceau d'ions carbone de 300 MeV/u dans l'eau. Ces paramètres sont : le seuil de production des particules secondaires et la taille maximale d'un segment de la trace de particule. Les critères de tolérance sur la valeur et la localisation de la dose sont fixés de manière à avoir le meilleur compromis en termes de distribution spatiale et de temps de calcul. Nous proposons ici des paramètres permettant d'atteindre ces critères de précision. Dans la deuxième partie du travail, nous étudions la réponse des films radiochromiques MDv2-55 pour le contrôle qualité des faisceaux d'ions carbone et protons. Nous avons en particulier observé et étudié l'effet de saturation de ces films dosimétriques pour les irradiations à TEL élevés (≥ 20 KeV/µm) dans des milieux homogènes et hétérogènes. Cet effet est dû à la forte densité d'ionisation autour de la trace de particule. Nous avons proposé et développé un modèle appelé " RADIS RAdiochromic films Dosimetry for Ions using Simulations " qui permet de prédire la réponse de ces films avec la prise en compte de cet effet de saturation. Ce modèle est basé sur la réponse des films en photons et la saturation des films à des dépôts d'énergies linéïques élevés calculée par Monte Carlo. Plusieurs types de faisceaux ont été étudiés : ions carbone, protons et photons à différentes énergies. Ces expérimentations ont été menées au Grand Accélérateur National d'Ions Lourds (GANIL), au Centre de protonthérapie d'Orsay (CPO), au Centre A. Lacassagne (CAL) et au Centre Léon Bérard (CLB). A l'aide du modèle, nous pouvons ainsi reproduire la densité optique des films le long du profil de Bragg pour tous les faisceaux avec une précision meilleure que 2%.

ECRS is a program for the detailed simulation of extensive air shower initiated by high energy cosmic ray particles. In this dissertation work, a Geant4 based ECRS simulation was designed and developed to study secondary cosmic ray particle showers in the full range of Earth's atmosphere. A proper atmospheric air density and geomagnetic field are implemented in order to correctly simulate the charged particles interactions in the Earth's atmosphere. The initial simulation was done for the Atlanta (33.460 N , 84.250 W) region. Four different types of primary proton energies (109, 1010, 1011 and 1012 eV) were considered to determine the secondary particle distribution at the Earth's surface. The geomagnetic field and atmospheric air density have considerable effects on the muon particle distribution at the Earth's surface. The muon charge ratio at the Earth's surface was studied with ECRS simulation for two different geomagnetic locations: Atlanta, Georgia, USA and Lynn Lake, Manitoba, Canada. The simulation results are shown in excellent agreement with the data from NMSU-WIZARD/CAPRICE and BESS experiments at Lynn Lake. At low momentum, ground level muon charge ratios show latitude dependent geomagnetic effects for both Atlanta and Lynn Lake from the simulation. The simulated charge ratio is 1.20 ± 0.05 (without geomagnetic field), 1.12 ± 0.05 (with geomagnetic field) for Atlanta and 1.22 ± 0.04 (with geomagnetic field) for Lynn Lake. These types of studies are very important for analyzing secondary cosmic ray muon flux distribution at the Earth's surface and can be used to study the atmospheric neutrino oscillations.

The study is mainly focused on Monte Carlo simulation of carbon fragmentation in nuclear emulsion. The carbon ion is selected as a remarkable candidate for the cancer therapy usages due to its high efficiency in depositing majority of its energy in the narrow region which is called Bragg Peak. On the other hand, the main side effect of heavy-ion therapy is the radiation dose beyond the Bragg Peak which damages the healthy tissues. Therefore the use of heavy-ion in cancer therapy requires accurate understanding of ion-matter interactions which result in the production of secondary particles. A Geant4 based simulation of carbon fragmentation has been done considering 400 MeV/n carbon beam directed to the detector which is made of nuclear emulsion films, interleaved with lexan layers. Four different models in Geant4 are compared with recent real data. Among the four different models, Binary Cascade Model (BIC) shows a better agreement with real data.

La thèse s'est déroulée dans le contexte de la datation par thermoluminescence. Cette méthode nécessite la mesure en laboratoire de la radioactivité naturelle. Pour cela, nous utilisons un spectromètre au germanium. Pour affiner l'étalonnage de celui-ci, nous l'avons modélisé en utilisant un code de calcul Monte-Carlo : Geant4. Nous avons développé un modèle géométrique qui prend en compte la présence de zones inactives et de défauts de collection de charges dans le cristal de germanium. Les paramètres du modèle ont été ajustés par comparaison avec des résultats expérimentaux obtenus avec une source de 137^Cs. Il apparaît que la forme des zones inactives est moins simple que présenté dans la littérature spécialisée. Ce modèle a été élargit au cas d'une source plus complexe, avec effet de cascade et corrélations angulaires entre photons : le 60^Co. Enfin, appliqué à des sources étendues, il a donné des résultats corrects et nous a permis de valider la simulation de l'effet de matrice.

Thèse numérisée par la Division de la gestion de documents et des archives de l'Université de Montréal

Mémoire numérisé par la Division de la gestion de documents et des archives de l'Université de Montréal

The purpose of this thesis is to present data pertinent to and propose conclusions regarding the coordination of radiobiologic effectiveness (RBE) and linear energy transfer (LET). RBE is a quantity relating the effectiveness of different radiations in causing cell death. LET is a measure of the rate of energy transferred to material by an ionizing particle. This relationship of these values varies for different particles. The reason for this is still inconclusive. The petitioner has made use of a toolkit for Geant4, known as Geant4-DNA, to perform track-structure analysis on a chromosome model. Geant4 is an object-oriented program for the "simulation of the passage of particles through matter" developed by CERN that makes use of Monte Carlo methods and is expanded by Geant4-DNA to handle low-energy electron physics as well as physic-chemical effects. The chromosome model, in this case, has been developed by the petitioner as a nucleus with a basic, uniform distribution of chromatin. Radiation damage to DNA, in the form of aberrations, lesions and strand breaks, can be coordinated to energy deposited or number of ionizations occurring in the target (in this case DNA or chromatin fiber). Certain threshold values have been established as indicate of different types of DNA damage. The ultimate goal of this work is to score these clusters of events against the threshold values to determine the severity of DNA damage. The final comparison of the results for different particles will provide for a better understanding of the RBE-LET relationships by improving the understanding of the underlying nanodosimetric qualities.

Nesse trabalho medimos e analisamos distribuições angulares do espalhamento elástico para os isótopos 7Be, 9Be e 10Be em alvo de 12C. A distribuição do 7Be foi medida a uma energia de 18.8 MeV, em dois laboratórios, com o sistema TWINSOL, na Universidade de Notre dame, e com o sistema RIBRAS, na Universidade de São Paulo, onde foi completada a distribuição angular. As distribuições para o 9Be e 10Be foram medidas completamente no sistema RIBRAS, em energias de 26.0 e 23.2 MeV, respectivamente. Cada uma dessas distribuições angulares foi analisada considerando no modelo ótico e também o formalismo dos canais acoplados. Testamos múltiplos potenciais óticos em cada distribui9ção, com a finalidade de descrever a seção de choque elástica de cada sistema. Para os sistemas que envolvem núcleos fracamente ligados (7Be, 9Be e 8B) foram feitos cálculos com acoplamento do contínuo (CDCC), enquanto que para o núcleo 10Be, que é fortemente ligado, acoplamos os dois primeiros estados ligados. Também, a partir da análise de cada uma das distribuições elásticas, foi possível obter a seção total de reação, que foi comparada sistematicamente com outros núcleos leves espalhados em carbono. Dessa análise foi possível concluir que o canal do break up Coulombiano, nesses sistemas leves, não é fortemente influente na seção de choque total de reação, o que implica que a interação entre alvo e projétil é dominada pelo potencial nuclear. / In the present work, we measured elastic scattering angular distributions for teh isotopes 7Be, 9Be and 10Be on 12C target. The angular distribution of 7Be at 18.8 MeV, was measured in two laboratories, with the TWINSOL system, in Notre Dame University, and the RIBRAS system, in São Paulo University, where the angular distribution was completed. The angular distribution for 9Be and 10Be isotopes measured completely in the RIBRAS system at 26.0 and 23.2 MeV, respectively. All angular distribution were analized considering optical model and coupled channel formalism. We tested multiple optical potentials on each distribution to describe the elastic cross section for these systems. For the weakly bound projectiles (7Be, 9Be and 8B)calculations with continous coupling (CDCC) were performed, while for the 10Be nucleus, which is tghtly bound nucleus, we coupled the first two bound states. We also performed a systematic analysis of the total reaction cross section obtained from elastic scattering distribution of several light particles on 12C. From this analysis, we concluded that the Coulomb break up channel, in these light systems, does not have a strong influence on the total reaction cross section, what implies that the projetile-target interaction is dominated by the nuclear potential.

Submitted by Danielle Karla Martins Silva (danielle.martins@ufpe.br) on 2015-03-12T18:03:49Z No. of bitstreams: 2 DISSERTACAO_VersaoFinal_Alex.pdf: 5202282 bytes, checksum: 412feea4e159e10abed8409d3f2010ee (MD5) license_rdf: 1232 bytes, checksum: 66e71c371cc565284e70f40736c94386 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2015-03-12T18:03:49Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 DISSERTACAO_VersaoFinal_Alex.pdf: 5202282 bytes, checksum: 412feea4e159e10abed8409d3f2010ee (MD5) license_rdf: 1232 bytes, checksum: 66e71c371cc565284e70f40736c94386 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012 / CNPq / O planejamento radioterápico é o processo de determinar a maneira mais apropriada de irradiar o paciente. Entre as etapas mais importantes do processo de planejamento está a aquisição de imagens do paciente e a avaliação da distribuição de dose. Os sistemas computacionais baseados em métodos Monte Carlo estão se tornando a técnica mais avançada para avaliação de dose, fornecendo resultados mais realísticos. As imagens do paciente são predominantemente obtidas por Tomografia Computadorizada (CT), que fornecem, não só informações relevantes sobre a anatomia, como também permitem obter uma distribuição espacial das densidades e composições químicas dos órgãos e tecidos através de métodos de conversão de números CT. A relação entre número CT e densidade é estabelecida por uma curva de calibração obtida empiricamente a partir de imagens CT de um fantoma físico que possui vários materiais com densidades diferentes. As composições químicas são atribuídas a grupos determinados segmentando-se a escala de números CT. Contudo, estes métodos de conversão de números CT não levam em consideração a qualidade das imagens. Neste trabalho são avaliadas as influências de alguns parâmetros de qualidade de imagem CT (resolução de baixo contraste, exatidão dos números CT e ruído) na distribuição de dose em planejamento radioterápico. Para isso, diversas etapas foram realizadas, entre elas: construção de um fantoma físico; aquisição de um conjunto de imagens CT deste; desenvolvimento de um software em linguagem de programação C#; e simulações Monte Carlo no código GEANT4 de irradiações do fantoma utilizando as suas imagens (após a conversão de números CT) e uma representação computacional do mesmo. Essencialmente, a análise dos resultados foi realizada comparando-se as distribuições de dose resultantes das simulações. Nessas comparações, foram encontrados muitos erros acima dos 5%, limiar estabelecido pela ICRU 24 (1976). Isso resulta da inexatidão na distribuição espacial de densidades e composições químicas e, portanto, a qualidade das imagens CT influencia consideravelmente a distribuição de dose. A conversão para densidade é afetada pelo ruído e pela exatidão de números CT, e a conversão para composição química, pelo ruído e pela amostragem de números CT de objetos com densidades próximas. A resolução de baixo contraste não demonstrou um efeito perceptível.