Technical Preparations for the First Carbon-Ion Therapy Facility in the United States
Abstract
Carbon ion radiotherapy (CIRT) provides greater biological effectiveness than conventional photon therapy because of its high linear energy transfer and its ability to induce complex DNA damage. Mayo Clinic Florida is developing the first CIRT facility in the United States, using a synchrotron-based system with dose-driven continuous scanning (DDCS). Although DDCS improves delivery efficiency by keeping the beam on during spot transitions, it also creates the challenge of accurately modeling the dose delivered during beam motion (move dose), which is not fully addressed in current treatment planning systems. In this work, we present a method for accurate simulation of move dose to support Monte Carlo (MC) dose calculations. The method models realistic beam trajectories, including the characteristic hockey stick motion caused by different scanning speeds in the X and Y directions, and accounts for time-dependent beam intensity with linear ramp-up behavior. The beam path is divided into small segments, each represented by a move source with analytically determined position, intensity, and monitor units. Beam intensity fluctuations are also included using a stochastic model based on measurements. Validation using TOPAS simulations for a 430 MeV/u carbon ion beam in a water phantom showed accurate modeling of move dose and the resulting dose distributions. This method provides a practical framework for MC-based dose calculation in clinical CIRT.
Related
- Impact of robust optimization and beam configuration on the distribution stability of LET under delivery uncertainties in carbon‐ion therapy
- Study of Λ CP Asymmetry Parameter and Electric Dipole Moment at the Super Tau-Charm Facility
- Charmonium production at energies available at the CERN Super Proton Synchrotron and Facility for Antiproton and Ion Research
- Search for Visible Dark Photon Decays at the Future SHINE Facility with the DarkSHINE Experiment
- Harnessing Machine Learning for Ultrafast Science in Facility Settings: Opportunities and Challenges
BibTeX
@misc{tan2026technical,
title = {{Technical Preparations for the First Carbon-Ion Therapy Facility in the United States}},
author = {Jun Tan and Xiaoying Liang and Keith M Furutani and Justin Park and Sridhar Yaddanapudi and Bo Lu and Chris J. Beltran},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2610.10824},
eprint = {2610.10824},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.10824},
note = {CC BY-NC-ND 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Technical Preparations for the First Carbon-Ion Therapy Facility in the United States
AU - Jun Tan
AU - Xiaoying Liang
AU - Keith M Furutani
AU - Justin Park
AU - Sridhar Yaddanapudi
AU - Bo Lu
AU - Chris J. Beltran
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/07
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2610.10824
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.10824
AB - Carbon ion radiotherapy (CIRT) provides greater biological effectiveness than conventional photon therapy because of its high linear energy transfer and its ability to induce complex DNA damage. Mayo Clinic Florida is developing the first CIRT facility in the United States, using a synchrotron-based system with dose-driven continuous scanning (DDCS). Although DDCS improves delivery efficiency by keeping the beam on during spot transitions, it also creates the challenge of accurately modeling the dose delivered during beam motion (move dose), which is not fully addressed in current treatment planning systems. In this work, we present a method for accurate simulation of move dose to support Monte Carlo (MC) dose calculations. The method models realistic beam trajectories, including the characteristic hockey stick motion caused by different scanning speeds in the X and Y directions, and accounts for time-dependent beam intensity with linear ramp-up behavior. The beam path is divided into small segments, each represented by a move source with analytically determined position, intensity, and monitor units. Beam intensity fluctuations are also included using a stochastic model based on measurements. Validation using TOPAS simulations for a 430 MeV/u carbon ion beam in a water phantom showed accurate modeling of move dose and the resulting dose distributions. This method provides a practical framework for MC-based dose calculation in clinical CIRT.
ER -