Progresses in dual energy computed tomography approach for proton stopping power ratio computation in radiotherapy

Treatment of cancer with heavy ions, like proton and carbon ions, has its challenges based on precision for dose calculation. One of the major contributors to this precision in the case of proton therapy is proton range which is calculated using proton stopping power ratio. This presentation explores most of the progresses made in computing proton stopping power ratio using dual energy approach as well as single energy method for comparison. The presentation will include both image domain and projection domain methods. The importance of dual energy approach is discussed as well as limitations and more works that needs to be done to enhance clinical implementation of the approach are presented.

Dr. Charles Ekene Chika joined University of Nigeria as a graduate assistant after obtaining his bachelor’s degree from the same university and completing his national youth service in 2014. He obtained his master’s and doctorate degree in 2016 and 2019, respectively, from The University of Texas at Dallas in USA. He had two years postdoc at The University of Texas MD Anderson cancer center in the Department of Radiation Physics where he worked on proton stopping power estimation for proton therapy before returning to University of Nigeria. His research covers applications of mathematics in radiation therapy, imaging, cryptography, etc.