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@ARTICLE{Schneider:302160,
author = {F. Schneider and C. J. Bauer and I. D. Göbel and C.
King$^*$ and M. F. Spadea and J. Seco$^*$ and F. A. Giordano
and J. Fleckenstein},
title = {{R}apid and reversible adaptation of a clinical linear
accelerator for electron {FLASH} radiotherapy.},
journal = {Physica medica},
volume = {136},
issn = {1120-1797},
address = {Amsterdam},
publisher = {Elsevier},
reportid = {DKFZ-2025-01278},
pages = {105032},
year = {2025},
abstract = {The aim of this work was to establish a procedure that
allows the conversion of a standard clinical LINAC into a
'FLASH' LINAC capable of delivering ultra-high dose rates
above 40 Gy/s, with minimal, fully reversible modifications
to the device. A dosimetric characterization of the
resulting treatment beam is presented.A LINAC was modified
to emit a 10 MeV electron FLASH beam. Modifications included
the integration of a pulse control unit which consisted out
of a scintillation detector and a transistor circuit. Beam
parameters were optimized to maximize dose output. Beam
characterization measurements were performed with different
detectors in water: ionization chamber, diamond detector,
radiographic films and scintillation detector. The resulting
doses per pulse (DPP) and dose rates at different
source-surface-distances (SSD) as well as the output
reproducibility were determined. The beam was characterized
with depth dose curves and lateral profiles.Conversion of a
LINAC to FLASH mode was feasible in less than 30 min. Output
was between DPPSSD=56cm = 1.69 ± 0.02 Gy and DPPSSD=100cm =
0.53 ± 0.01 Gy or dose rates between 676 ± 8 Gy/s and 213
± 4 Gy/s. Reproducibility of DPP was better than 0.8 $\%.$
FLASH depth dose curves showed a higher range (R80 = 39.8 mm
vs. 34.6 mm) and lateral beam profiles had a reduced
flatness (from 5.5 $\%$ to 12.7 $\%)$ at SSD = 56 cm.We
present a fully reversible conversion method requiring
minimal modifications to a LINAC to produce electron FLASH
beams. The achieved DPP and mean dose rates demonstrated
high reproducibility, meeting criteria for FLASH
applications, and markedly simplifying access to this
technology for broader implementation.},
keywords = {Dosimetry (Other) / Electron beam (Other) / FLASH (Other) /
LINAC (Other) / Ultra-high dose rate (Other)},
cin = {E041},
ddc = {610},
cid = {I:(DE-He78)E041-20160331},
pnm = {315 - Bildgebung und Radioonkologie (POF4-315)},
pid = {G:(DE-HGF)POF4-315},
typ = {PUB:(DE-HGF)16},
pubmed = {pmid:40554908},
doi = {10.1016/j.ejmp.2025.105032},
url = {https://inrepo02.dkfz.de/record/302160},
}