Dose analysis of proton beam therapy in hepatocellular carcinoma using PHITS version 3.20

Abstract

Hepatocellular Carcinoma (HCC) is one of the deadliest cancers that assault the human liver.. Proton beam therapy (PBT) is a safer therapy for HCC because there is less risk of damaging healthy tissue. The aims of this study were to determine the optimal proton energy for HCC treatment, the effect of proton energy on the rate of absorbed dose for HCC treatment, the effect of proton energy on the total isoeffective dose for the treatment of liver cancer, and safe and effective irradiation techniques for the treatment of HCC. This study is a simulation method using the PHITS 3.20. The PHITS3.20 program begins with defining the geometry, the material for liver cancer, other organs as the object under study, and the energy source used. The proton source used is S2C2 (Superconducting Synchrocyclotron). The independent variable in this study is the proton energy range between 75 MeV to 112 MeV according to the S2C2 output, while the dependent variable is the absorbed dose rate. The results of this study describe the optimum energy for HCC treatment as 88 MeV to 112 MeV; the more significant the energy used, the higher the dose rate for GTV; the more significant the energy used, the higher the dose. The total isoeffective on GTV will be smaller, and a safe and effective irradiation method for treating HCC is the pencil scattering method.