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Sam Manger

Contact: s dot manger at warwick dot ac dot uk

My PhD research is around proton computed tomography (CT) for proton therapy. Working with the PRaVDA consortium, I initially studied radiation damage in CMOS active pixel sensors for use in proton CT before beginning work on a phantom to evaluate the performance of proton CT in proton therapy treatment planning.

Proton CT aims to reduce range uncertainties in proton therapy. In proton therapy, a beam of protons is used to deliver a highly targeted dose of ionising radiation to a tumour site with minimal entrance dose and no exit dose. The depth-dose characteristics of protons are illustrated by the Bragg peak, where it can be seen that most of the radiation dose deposited by the protons is at the end of their range. However, uncertainties in tissue composition lead to uncertainties in the range of the proton treatment beam of the order of 3.0 - 3.4 %. A major contribution to these uncertainties arises from x-ray CT imaging and the stoichiometric conversion method used to convert x-ray Hounsfield Units to proton stopping powers. By directly measuring proton stopping powers with proton CT, uncertainty in the proton range should be reduced.

Presented Works

Poster - UKRO, Manchester, June 2017

Talk - Joint APP and HEPP Conference, Sheffield, April 2017

Poster - Proton Physics Research and Implementation Group, NPL December 2016

Further Reading on PRaVDA

Proton CT moves closer to the clinic - Medical Physics Web, March 2017

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Phantom undergoing an x-ray CT scan at University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire

PMMA Phantom

PMMA phantom after manufacture with Gafchromic film cut at University Hospitals Birmingham

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HDPE phantom after irradiation at iThemba LABS, November 2016