Project R-5883

Non-invasive in-situ dosimetry for radiotherapy patients (Research)

With an estimated 12,6 million new cases and 7,5 million deaths each year worldwide, cancer remains a major public health problem in the world. As part of their treatment, about 50% of the patients receives radiotherapy (RT). In order to optimize treatment efficacy, high tumor radiation dose levels are required, while minimal healthy tissue irradiation is pursued. Thereto, recent developments in radiotherapy focus on a more precise delivery of highly conformal dose distributions with steep gradients. Considering the cases reporting accidents in radiotherapy treatments due to malfunctioning or (involuntary) mishandling of the equipment, aforementioned advancements in radiotherapy are thoroughly related to advances in dosimetry. Unfortunately there is no systematic use of on-line in-vivo dosimetry technologies nowadays because of the limitations of the commercially available dosimetry systems. Hence, today there is a stringent need in the clinical routine of radiotherapy for non-invasive on-line in-situ (i.e. at the tumor location) dosimetry systems. In view of this necessity, the main objective of DoseVue NV is to provide quantitative monitoring of radiotherapy treatment by developing an innovative in-situ, non-invasive, real-time, dosimetry system which relies on functionalized microbubbles. Using commercially available, non-functionalized microbubbles, an in-vitro proof of concept of DoseVue's technology has already been delivered demonstrating the consistency of the underlying principles. In this project, the technological innovations are considered that are required to push our dosimetry concept from an in-vitro proof of concept towards its validation in a rodent model. As such the DoseScan project is a crucial part of DoseVue's innovation trajectory. The successful outcome of the DoseScan project will definitely mean a significant contribution towards realization of DoseVue's ultimate objective. Servicing modern radiotherapy treatment procedures DoseVue's technology will eventually improve both patient treatment and safety. Due to the expected annual increase of patients receiving radiotherapy, the potential market is very big. Beside this project, DoseVue NV will therefore also work on the assessment of the willingness to pay for its technology and on the definition of an adequate market penetration strategy.

01 September 2013 - 31 March 2015