Comparative study of depth-dose distributions for beams of light and heavy nuclei in tissue-like media
Abstract
We study the energy deposition by light and heavy nuclei in tissue-like media as used for cancer therapy. The depth-dose distributions for protons, 3He, 12C, 20Ne, and 58Ni nuclei are calculated within a Monte Carlo model based on the GEANT4 toolkit. These distributions are compared with each other and with available experimental data. It is demonstrated that nuclear fragmentation reactions essentially reduce the peak-to-plateau ratio of the dose profiles for deeply penetrating energetic ions heavier than 3He. On the other hand, all projectiles up to 20Ne were found equally suitable for therapeutic use at low penetration depths.
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