Scintillator screen for measuring dose distribution in scanned carbon-ion therapy

Precise measurement of the dose distribution of a carbon-ion pencil beam is essential for the safe delivery of treatment in scanned carbon-ion therapy. We developed an easy-to-use and quick dose-measurement tool that employs a silver-activated zinc-sulfide (ZnS) scintillator, which shows a smaller linear energy transfer (LET) dependency than conventional Gd-based scintillator, to measure the dose distribution of a carbon-ion pencil beam with high spatial resolution and small corrections. A ZnS scintillator sheet was set up perpendicular to the beam axis, and scintillation images were recorded using a charge-coupled device camera. We used 290-MeV/nucleon monoenergetic carbon-ion pencil beams at the Gunma University Heavy Ion Medical Center. The thickness of the water tank placed above the scintillator was remotely controlled to adjust the measurement depth. Images were acquired at different water depths, and the depth and lateral profiles were determined from the images. The results were compared with those of conventional Gd-based scintillator. The depth light intensity profile of the ZnS scintillator matched the depth dose measured using an ionization chamber, which was better than that of a Gd-based scintillator. This result is advantageous for measurements using a carbon-ion pencil beam, which consists of primary carbon ions with a much higher LET than a proton, with smaller corrections. The ZnS scintillator showed good output characteristics, dose linearity (R-2 > 0.99), and output reproducibility (deviations below 2%) and good agreement with the lateral-dose profiles measured using a diode down to similar to 1% of the central dose. The proposed tool can measure lateral profiles at the depth of the Bragg peak and tail in addition to the entrance. Our tool was used to quickly measure the dose distribution of carbonion pencil beam with high-spatial resolution and small corrections.