Abstract
In radiology, accelerated light ions, for example the protons considered in this paper, are generally classified as “charged heavy particles”. A beam of such particles, accelerated to a kinetic energy of some hundred millions electron volts per atomic mass unit, is able to penetrate thick layers of tissue with only a small amount of scatter, comparable in magnitude with that of the most energetic roentgen rays, at present used in radiotherapy. As with electrons, the charged heavy particles create ionization of practically continuous density along their path of penetration. In contrast, however, to a high energy electron which produces a fairly sparse ionization as it moves nearly at the velocity of light along most of its track, a charged heavy particle induces a marked increase in specific ionization in the last centimeters of its course of penetration, where its velocity decreases gradually with increasing depth. A beam of nearly monoenergetic charged heavy particles has, indeed, a sharp maximum, “the Bragg peak”, near the depth at which the particles are brought to rest. This effect is accentuated by the fact that the charged heavy particles, due to their large mass, are less influenced by statistical fluctuations in their attenuating collisions, and therefore have little range variation.
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Larsson, B. (1980). Dosimetry and Radiobiology of Protons as Applied to Cancer Therapy and Neurosurgery. In: Thomas, R.H., Perez-Mendez, V. (eds) Advances in Radiation Protection and Dosimetry in Medicine. Ettore Majorana International Science Series, vol 2. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4757-1715-0_17
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