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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Phys.
Sec. Medical Physics and Imaging
Volume 12 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fphy.2024.1454854
This article is part of the Research Topic Challenges in VHEE Radiotherapy View all 3 articles

electronCT -An Imaging Technique Using Very-high Energy Electrons

Provisionally accepted
Paul Schütze Paul Schütze 1*Aenne Abel Aenne Abel 1,2Florian Burkart Florian Burkart 1L. Malinda S. de Silva L. Malinda S. de Silva 1Hannes Dinter Hannes Dinter 1Kevin Dojan Kevin Dojan 3Adrian Herkert Adrian Herkert 1Sonja Jaster-Merz Sonja Jaster-Merz 1Max J. Kellermeier Max J. Kellermeier 1Willi Kuropka Willi Kuropka 1Frank Mayet Frank Mayet 1Sara Ruiz Daza Sara Ruiz Daza 1,3Simon Spannagel Simon Spannagel 1Thomas Vinatier Thomas Vinatier 1Håkan Wennlöf Håkan Wennlöf 1
  • 1 Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron DESY, Hamburg, Germany
  • 2 University of Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany
  • 3 University of Bonn, Bonn, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    The electronCT technique is an imaging method based on the multiple Coulomb scattering of relativistic electrons and has potential applications in medical and industrial imaging. It utilizes a pencil beam of electrons in the very high energy electron (VHEE, 50-250 MeV) range and a single detection layer for the determination of the beam profile. The technique constitutes a projectional, two-dimensional imaging method and thus also qualifies for the tomographic reconstruction of samples. Given the simplicity of the technical setup and its location behind the sample, the electronCT technique has potential synergies with VHEE radiotherapy, making use of the same electron source for both treatment and diagnostics and thus being a candidate for in-situ imaging and patient localization. At the same time, several technical challenges arise from the measurement technique when applied for the imaging of living beings. Measurements performed at the ARES linear particle accelerator at an electron energy of 155 MeV using a mouse phantom and a Timepix3 silicon pixel detector assembly demonstrate the feasibility of this technique. Both projectional and tomographic reconstructions are presented and the potential and limits of the technology are discussed.

    Keywords: electronCT, medical imaging, multiple scattering, AREs, VHEE, Timepix3, radiation therapy

    Received: 25 Jun 2024; Accepted: 25 Sep 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Schütze, Abel, Burkart, de Silva, Dinter, Dojan, Herkert, Jaster-Merz, Kellermeier, Kuropka, Mayet, Ruiz Daza, Spannagel, Vinatier and Wennlöf. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Paul Schütze, Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron DESY, Hamburg, Germany

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.