Feasibility study of normal tissue-sparing effect in proton minibeam radiation therapy: animal experiment

In the recent study of proton therapy, the expectation of the normal tissue-sparing effect of the proton minibeam radiation therapy (pMBRT) using a multi-slit collimator (MSC) is increasing. We designed and conducted animal experiments to verify the sparing effect on normal tissues. Proton beam irradiation was carried out on two groups of mice except a control group (0 Gy). One group was irradiated with a conventional broad beam, and the other with a minibeam. A dose of 8.5 Gy was delivered to both femurs of mice in every group. In the pMBRT group, the survival rate of bone marrow cells was significantly improved as compared to the conventional broad beam group. The survival rate in the minibeam group was 2.5 times higher. In conclusion, the pMBRT has been strongly proven to have a superior tissue-sparing effect than the conventional broad beam.