BACKGROUND: We performed a survey using the modified EORTC Facility questionnaire (pFQ) to evaluate the human, technical and organizational resources of particle centers in Europe. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The modified pFQ consisted of 235 questions distributed in 11 sections accessible on line on an EORTC server. Fifteen centers from 8 countries completed the pFQ between May 2015 and December 2015. RESULTS: The average number of patients treated per year and per particle center was 221 (range, 40-557). The majority (66.7%) of centers had pencil beam or raster scanning capability. Four (27%) centers were dedicated to eye treatment only. An increase in the patients-health professional FTE ratio was observed for eye tumor only centers when compared to other centers. All centers treated routinely chordomas/chondrosarcomas, brain tumors and sarcomas but rarely breast cancer. The majority of centers treated pediatric cases with particles. Only a minority of the queried institutions treated non-static targets. CONCLUSIONS: As the number of particle centers coming online will increase, the experience with this treatment modality will rise in Europe. Children can currently be treated in these facilities in a majority of cases. The majority of these centers provide state of the art particle beam therapy.

• MeSH
• chondrosarkom radioterapie   MeSH
• chordom radioterapie   MeSH
• dítě MeSH
• elementární částice terapeutické užití   MeSH
• lidé MeSH
• nádory kostí farmakoterapie   MeSH
• nádory mozku radioterapie   MeSH
• nádory oka radioterapie   MeSH
• protonová terapie přístrojové vybavení   metody   statistika a číselné údaje   MeSH
• protony MeSH
• průzkumy a dotazníky MeSH
• radioterapie těžkými ionty přístrojové vybavení   metody   statistika a číselné údaje   MeSH
• uhlík chemie   terapeutické užití   MeSH
• Check Tag
• dítě MeSH
• lidé MeSH
• Publikační typ
• časopisecké články MeSH
• Geografické názvy
• Evropa MeSH

PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to determine fluence corrections necessary to convert absorbed dose to graphite, measured by graphite calorimetry, to absorbed dose to water. Fluence corrections were obtained from experiments and Monte Carlo simulations in low- and high-energy proton beams. METHODS: Fluence corrections were calculated to account for the difference in fluence between water and graphite at equivalent depths. Measurements were performed with narrow proton beams. Plane-parallel-plate ionization chambers with a large collecting area compared to the beam diameter were used to intercept the whole beam. High- and low-energy proton beams were provided by a scanning and double scattering delivery system, respectively. A mathematical formalism was established to relate fluence corrections derived from Monte Carlo simulations, using the fluka code [A. Ferrari et al., "fluka: A multi-particle transport code," in CERN 2005-10, INFN/TC 05/11, SLAC-R-773 (2005) and T. T. Böhlen et al., "The fluka Code: Developments and challenges for high energy and medical applications," Nucl. Data Sheets 120, 211-214 (2014)], to partial fluence corrections measured experimentally. RESULTS: A good agreement was found between the partial fluence corrections derived by Monte Carlo simulations and those determined experimentally. For a high-energy beam of 180 MeV, the fluence corrections from Monte Carlo simulations were found to increase from 0.99 to 1.04 with depth. In the case of a low-energy beam of 60 MeV, the magnitude of fluence corrections was approximately 0.99 at all depths when calculated in the sensitive area of the chamber used in the experiments. Fluence correction calculations were also performed for a larger area and found to increase from 0.99 at the surface to 1.01 at greater depths. CONCLUSIONS: Fluence corrections obtained experimentally are partial fluence corrections because they account for differences in the primary and part of the secondary particle fluence. A correction factor, F(d), has been established to relate fluence corrections defined theoretically to partial fluence corrections derived experimentally. The findings presented here are also relevant to water and tissue-equivalent-plastic materials given their carbon content.

• MeSH
• algoritmy MeSH
• cyklotrony MeSH
• dávka záření MeSH
• grafit MeSH
• kalorimetrie přístrojové vybavení   metody   MeSH
• metoda Monte Carlo MeSH
• nejistota MeSH
• počítačová simulace MeSH
• protonová terapie přístrojové vybavení   metody   MeSH
• protony MeSH
• teplota MeSH
• tlak MeSH
• voda MeSH
• Publikační typ
• časopisecké články MeSH