Diseño avanzado de equipos de radioterapia: IORT e irradiadores para pequeños animalesAdvanced design of radiotherapy equipment : IORT and small animal irradiators

Abstract

Cancer is a major public health problem worldwide and the leading cause of death in Spain [1]. Radiotherapy plays an important role in cancer treatment with approximately 50% of all cancer patients receiving radiation therapy during the course of their illness [2], [3]. However, radiation damages both healthy and cancerous tissues and improving the therapeutic index (the relationship between the probability of tumor control and the likelihood of normal tissue damage) is a constant challenge in radiotherapy [4]. Consequently, optimizing treatment plans (TP) is of utmost importance [5]. In this thesis we present two projects in collaboration with GMV [6] and SEDECAL [7] that aim to this goal. On the one hand, we propose a design for a small animal x-ray irradiator to be used in preclinical research. This kind of devices serve to downscale the clinical scenario to the laboratory in order to study the radiobiological response and improve clinical outcomes [8]. Our proposal consists of a conventional X-ray tube and a self-shielded cabinet, which make the system affordable and suitable to use without disruption inexisting laboratories...