The 1st Joint Symposium of Kyoto University’s Three North American On-site Labs
Cancer Radiotherapy at the Tip of Endoscope Driven by Laser Wakefield Acceleration
Feb. 28, 2023
Laser wakefield acceleration (LWFA) [1] is capable of accelerating electrons over a compact distance than any conventional accelerators. Ion top of this the recent development of the high density (HD) regime of LWFA allows the relatively low energy electron acceleration over a microscopic distance with higher efficiency [2]. This HD-LWFA introduces new operations and opportunities of radiotherapy by electrons and we may take a radiotherapy using the endoscope (LWFA via a fiber laser at its tip), in which a surgeon may look tissues via endoscope and zap electrons in front of its target inside a patient body [3]. Because of the HD-LWFA is so tiny (and also more efficient) than the regular gaseous LWFA and certainly conventional accelerators, its structure may fit such a tiny confine (and all solid state) operation. This may be also regarded as a future replacement of a Brachytherapy. The emitted electrons can be preferentially stopped at or near vector-medicine guided cancer cells [4]. These can be also applicable to surface tissues such as skin cancer. We will discuss the physical properties of HD-LWFA, its laser technology, and how best we can look for radiotherapy and nuclear medicine applications in our presentation.
[1] T. Tajima and J. Dawson, Phys. Rev. Lett. 43, 267 (1979).
[2] E. Barraza et al., Photonics 9, 476 (2022).
[3] D. Roa et al., Photonics 9, 403 (2022).
[4] Y. Higashi et al., Sci. Rpt. 11, 14192 (2021).