USA As Represented by Secretary of the Navy

Ross S Fontenot

Veerendra Kumar Mathur

John H Barkyoumb

Noel A Guardala

William A Hollerman

Exemplary practice of the present invention implements Europium Tetrakis Dibenzoylmethide Triethylammonium (EuDTEA) so as to administer ion beam therapy with extreme precision. An EUDTEA-inclusive marker (e.g., a solid or gel) is exactingly placed on the skin of a patient in accordance with a predetermined location of cancerous tissue beneath the skin. An ion beam aimed at the EUDTEA-inclusive marker results in luminescence of at least a portion of the EUDTEA-inclusive marker, thereby indicating that at least a portion of the ion beam is traveling through the EUDTEA-inclusive marker and striking the cancer therebelow. According to other modes of exemplary inventive practice, a medical phantom contains a tumor replica that is visibly contrastive inside the medical phantom in terms of luminescence versus non-luminescence. The tumor replica is targeted in ion beam testing to discern optimal geometric and radiative conditions for treating a correspondingly situated patient on the same treatment couch.

Luminescence-based method for planning precisely delivered ion beam therapy

Exemplary inventive practice implements Europium Tetrakis Dibenzoylmethide Triethylammonium (EuDTEA) so as to administer ion beam therapy with extreme precision. An EUDTEA-inclusive marker (e.g., a solid or gel) is exactingly placed on the skin of a patient in accordance with a predetermined location of cancerous tissue beneath the skin. An ion beam aimed at the EUDTEA-inclusive marker results in luminescence of at least a portion of the EUDTEA-inclusive marker, thereby indicating that at least a portion of the ion beam is traveling through the EUDTEA-inclusive marker and striking the cancer therebelow. According to other modes of exemplary inventive practice, a medical phantom contains a tumor replica that is visibly contrastive inside the medical phantom in terms of luminescence versus non-luminescence. The tumor replica is targeted in ion beam testing to discern optimal geometric and radiative conditions for treating a correspondingly situated patient on the same treatment couch.

Luminescence-based method for precise delivery of ion beam therapy

According to exemplary practice of the present invention, a probe laser beam characterized by a Stokes luminescence wavelength is trained upon a thermally insulated medium; the Stokes luminescence is measured upon conclusion of the probe laser impingement of the medium. Following this first Stokes luminescence measurement, a pump laser beam characterized by an anti-Stokes luminescence wavelength is trained upon the medium; the Stokes luminescence is measured upon conclusion of the pump laser impingement of the medium. Each laser has a blocking device associated therewith. A computer is implemented to transmit control signals to open and close the two blocking devices in alternating fashion so that only one laser beam at a time is aimed at the medium. The computer is also implemented to process the measurement signals to determine heating versus cooling. If the luminescence intensity following the pump laser impingement exceeds the luminescence intensity following the probe laser impingement, then the medium is being cooled.

Automated noncontact method to discriminate whether cooling or heating is occurring

According to exemplary practice of the present invention, a probe laser beam is aligned with a position detector and is spatially/geometrically related to a pump laser beam. A temperature gradient is produced in a medium by the pump beam. Since an increase or decrease in the temperature of the medium is related to an increase or decrease in the refractive index of the medium, position sensing of the deflection of the probe beam relative to the pump beam indicates whether the medium is heating or cooling.

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Montgomery Village, MD, United States of America

Ross S Fontenot