Monitoring Carbon Ion Tumor Therapy with In-Beam Positron Emission Tomography: Status and Trends

Within the tumor treatment pilot project running at the Gesellschaft für Schwerionenforschung (GSI) in Darmstadt, in-beam positron emission tomography (in-beam PET) is used to clinically monitor every patient irradiation with carbon ion beams. The physical, technical and radiobiological rationale for heavy ion tumor therapy will be shortly outlined, together with a comparison of clinical results obtained with carbon therapy versus other forms of radiotherapy.
In-beam PET, installed at GSI by the team from the Forschungszentrum Rossendorf, will then be presented in this clinical context, followed by a description of the technological solutions already achieved, as well as by the challenges to take into consideration in order to extend the in-beam PET method onto future radiotherapy facilities delivering also other ion species.