Dietrich Harder Master’s Thesis Award 2024: Monitoring of Anatomical Changes Inside the Patient During Carbon-Ion Radiotherapy

Rebekka Kirchgässner has won the Dietrich Harder Master’s Thesis award. The award was presented at the European Congress of Medical Physics (ECMP), which took place in Munich this September. It recognizes the scientific achievements of master’s graduates in the field of medical radiation physics. PTW has sponsored the award for the eighth time.

The award-winning master’s thesis by Rebekka Kirchgässner is titled „Detection of anatomical changes in an anthropomorphic phantom during carbon-ion radiotherapy by tracking of charged nuclear fragments“. It focuses on carbon-ion radiotherapy, an innovative method of cancer treatment that enables particularly precise and effective destruction of tumor cells through the targeted application of heavy ion beams. Monitoring morphological changes in the patient's anatomy is crucial, as these changes can cause uncertainties in the range of carbon ions.

From left to right: Vice President of the DGMP Professor Martin Fiebich (Technische Hochschule Mittelhessen), award winner Rebekka Kirchgässner and Axel Hoffmann (PTW Freiburg), photo: Conventus | Christian Scharf.

In her master’s thesis, Rebekka Kirchgässner succeeded in further developing the monitoring of carbon-ion radiation treatments by tracking secondary ions or charged nuclear fragments. Specifically, she achieved significant improvements in data processing, particularly in the correction of detector artifacts. She also developed a method to identify anatomical changes outside the primary carbon-ion beam, which helps to avoid false positive signals while preserving clinically relevant signals. Finally, she demonstrated through an example that the monitoring method is capable of detecting a clinically relevant density change in an anthropomorphic head phantom. The results obtained make a significant contribution to the clinical application of this monitoring method. PTW congratulates Rebekka Kirchgässner on her success.

Rebekka Kirchgässner studied physics at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) and wrote her master’s thesis at the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) in Heidelberg, where she is currently employed as a PhD student.

In addition to the Dietrich Harder Master's Thesis Award, PTW also donated a poster prize, which went to Julius Friedemann Werner for his poster titled „In-beam measurements of stopping power using multi-detector prompt gamma timing in proton therapy“.