187 VERIFYING PROTON THERAPY IRRADIATIONS WITH TIME-OF-FLIGHT POSITRON EMISSION TOMOGRAPHY

Compared to external beam photon therapy, proton therapy offers significant advantages in ensuring complete tumor destruction while minimizing collateral damage to healthy tissue. The reason for this is the highly localized dose deposition of ions (Bragg peak). However, dose delivery with protons (and other ions) is less robust toward anatomical changes in the patient over the course of a treatment, proton range miscalculations, and patient motion. It is therefore essential that an in-situ treatment delivery verification tool becomes an integral part of proton therapy to reduce these risks and their subsequent complications. The purpose of this study is to design such a system and evaluate its usefulness in a clinical setting for patient treatment.