UC Irvine

Proton therapy monitoring is currently limited to surface dosimetry despite the need for in vivo Bragg peak localization and monitoring of more complex delivery paradigms such as spatially fractionated GRID therapy, both of which are associated with improved patient outcomes. Radiacoustic imaging (RAI), which captures acoustic waves generated by pulsed proton dose deposition deep within the body, enables pulse-resolved, volumetric, quantitative monitoring of Bragg peak location and total dose delivery. In this work, the livers of a human torso phantom and a rabbit were irradiated with spatially separated proton beams, and the resulting radiacoustic signals were reconstructed into volumetric dose maps spanning both individual pulses and entire treatments. These high-fidelity reconstructions demonstrate the potential of RAI to enable adaptive radiotherapy and to ensure accurate in vivo delivery of spatially fractionated proton therapies.