MONDO: A neutron tracker for particle therapy secondary emission fluxes measurements

A charged particle passing through matter releases a considerable amount of energy at the end of its path. Thus, thanks to the spatial distribution of the deposited energy, particle therapy allows treating tumors with greater accuracy and efficiency than conventional radiotherapy. However, during the treatments, several secondary particles are produced from the interactions between therapeutic beams and human tissues and contribute to the total dose delivered to the patient. Since neutrons can release a significant dose far away from the tumour region, a precise measurement of their flux, production energy and angle distribution is eagerly needed to improve the treatment planning system and to estimate the normal tissue toxicity in the target region and establish if/where there could be the risk of secondary neoplasms. The MONDO (MOnitor for Neutron Dose in hadrOntherapy) project aims at detecting secondary neutrons with high efficiency and good backtracking precision.