Article

Dr. rer. medic. Patrick Wohlfahrt from the OncoRay group "High Precision Radiotherapy" received the Behnken-Berger Prize 2018 for his research work on the topic "Dual-Energy Computed Tomography for Accurate Stopping-Power Prediction in Proton Treatment Planning". The medical physicist investigates the clinical benefit of dual-energy computed tomography for radiation planning in proton therapy. Based on the very precise imaging method, which provides more information about human tissue than the current standard method, Wohlfahrt was able to show, for example, that proton beams in children's and adults' bones are slowed down differently. The innovative method also makes it easier to distinguish between different soft tissue types. This makes Dual-Energy CT an important basis for planning proton radiation even more precisely and individually.
The starting point for the investigations was the world's first clinical implementation of dual-energy computed tomography for radiation planning at the University Hospital Dresden in spring 2015. Since July 2017, patients of the University Proton Therapy Dresden have benefited directly from the latest research results, which enable even more precise radiation. The OncoRay Centre, the Helmholtz Centre Dresden-Rossendorf, the German Cancer Research Centre and the Heidelberg Institute for Radiooncology (HIRO) are cooperating to investigate the advantages of this method. Dr. Christian Möhler from HIRO also received the 1st Behnken-Berger Prize 2018 for his research work as part of his doctoral thesis on "Stopping Power Prediction with Dual-Energy Computed Tomography". The work of Dr. Wohlfahrt and Dr. Möhler emerged from the joint funding project "Translation of Dual-Energy CT into Application in Particle Therapy" of the National Center for Radiation Research in Radiooncology (NCRO).