Angular absorbed dose dependence of internal radiation-generating devices in radiotherapy

The angular dependence of the absorbed dose from internal radiation-generating devices located within a tumor mass is investigated. Given the systematics of proton and heavy-ion differential scattering cross sections, candidate internal radiation-generating devices will have a relatively constant absorbed dose output beyond a critical angle. Inside this angle, the absorbed dose output is suppressed because elastic and inelastic differential cross sections are peaked in the beam direction. This peaking increases in severity as the particle energy increases and suggests internal radiation-generating devices must have a limited rotation capability to compensate for the depression in the absorbed dose for angles near the beam direction.