The Aarhus Particle Therapy Group (APTG) is an interdisciplinary oriented research group linking physical and radiobiological research with clinical aspects of particle therapy.
Particle therapy, that is radiotherapy with charged particles, such as protons and carbon ions, may be beneficial for the treatment of cancer diseases. The highly localized dose deposition of these particles can reduce the dose given to normal healthy tissue and may therefore also reduce the risk of normal tissue complications.
Our research objectives concentrate on three key issues:
dosimetry of particle beams
radiobiology of particle beams
optimized treatment planning
We investigate the behavior of solid state detectors and ionization chambers being placed in particle beams of protons and carbon ions also with respect to their practicability in clinical application. In addition, we put efforts into the improvement of international dosimetry protocols required for clinical quality assurance.
The knowledge gained about the microscopic distribution of the energy by the particles as well as in radiobiological experiments is used for inspecting and optimizing radiobiological models needed for particle therapy with heavier ions such as carbon ions.
Finally, we try to find procedures to improve the clinical outcome of particle therapy. Therefore, we explore possibilities to overcome radioresistance by applying techniques such as dose or LET painting where high-dose or high-LET radiation, respectively, is confined in radioresistant tumor compartments.
In order to perform the advanced computation needed for detailed studies of particle beams we are also actively developing a number of software tools.
Our work is financed by the Danish Cancer Society and the The Lundbeck Foundation Centre for Interventional Research in Radiation Oncology (CIRRO).
