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Adam Melancon - PhD Research

Adam Melancon
amelanco@mdanderson.org

BS, 2003, Physics, Louisiana State University - Baton Rouge
MS, 2006, Medical Physics, University of Texas HSC - Houston 


Project: An in vivo Beam Positioning System for Proton Radiotherapy of Prostate Cancer 

The current bottleneck of proton radiotherapy of several disease sites is the large distal margin necessary to account for proton range uncertainty.  The main object of this research is to develop a novel proton beam positioning system that can detect the edge of the sharp distal fall-off of a single anterior proton beam in vivo for treatment of prostate cancer. The proposed system uses liquid scintillation filled rectal balloon to detect radiation reaching the rectum in concert with a computerized dual wedge lucite range shifter to achieve real time alignment of the anterior proton beam with the prostate-rectal interface.  Our preliminary results suggest that treating with this technique delivers approximately half the radiation dose to rectum over IMRT and conventional bilateral proton treatments.

Advisor: Lei Dong, PhD
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