CONICET | Buscador de Institutos y Recursos Humanos

There is a wide variety of techniques to treat patients with ionizing radiation of different characteristics, both X-ray and charged particle beams. Each therapy modality corresponds to specific properties according to the interaction of incident radiation with tissues, as well as the associated biological effects. Generally, all modern radiotherapy techniques focus on the best possible coating treatment volume, so such that the therapeutic effects are optimized while the side effects are reduced in affected organs because of its proximity to the irradiated area. In dosimetric terms, the goal is to seek for optimal coverage clinical treatment volume accompanied by a significant reduction of exposure level for surrounding tissues. The use of radiation beams generated by powerful accelerators of charged massive as hydrogen, helium and carbon ions has proven to be a viable option to optimize the dosimetric performance. However, the cost of this technology is out from the reach of the majority of the population, and is available only in a few countries called "developed". On the other hand, recent studies conducted in the framework of the existing collaboration between the National University of Cordoba (Argentina) and the University of La Frontera (Chile), have demonstrated the possibility of achieving similar dosimetric yields, some respects to those achieved with charged hadrons, but implementing a novel technique of X-ray convergent mode.This work presents some of the results regarding the virtual modelling along with performance testing of a prototype capable of producing convergent photon beams currently under development in the framework of the collaboration between both Universities. Specific subroutines were adapted using the FLUKA main code with the aim of characterizing the Bremsstrahlung yield in terms of anode properties, as well as in-phantom and patient-specific dosimetry performance of typical convergent beams produced by the prototype.