CORE FACILITY DESCRIPTION
Cone Beam CT Guided Small Animal Radiation Research Platform (SARRP)
Project Director: Bo Lu, MD, PhD, Professor, Director of Div. of Molecular Radiation Biology and
Section of Pulmonary Radiation Oncology, Dept. of Radiation Oncology
Associate Director: Yan Yu, PhD, Professor, Director of Div. of Medical Physics, Dept. of
Radiation Oncology
Advisory Committee: Dennis Leeper, Karen Knudsen, Matthew Thakur, Jianke Zhang
Location: Rm. 442, Jefferson Alumni Hall
Phone contact: Bo Lu, MD (x56705); Dennis Leeper, PhD (x58092)
Website: under construction
Mission, Goals, Capabilities
The Cone Beam CT Guided Small Animal X-irradiator
(SARRP) was purchased by a NIH Shared Instrumentation
Grant (S10). It is a novel and highly sophisticated radiation
therapy platform that uses a localized, focused beam of xrays as small as 0.5 mm to irradiate orthotopic or
spontaneous tumors, or irradiate targeted normal tissues,
while preserving surrounding normal tissues.
This will allow molecular radiation biology and experimental
radiation oncology to be performed in mice with the same
precision that is expected in human radiation treatments.
This greatly increases the relevance of preclinical animal
studies in radiation oncology, the principles of which are
used to design radiation treatment regimens for the 50% of
cancer patients who receive radiation therapy as part of
their management. In addition, this platform will allow
organ-specific irradiation to determine tissue-specific
biological effects from ionizing radiation. This technology
has also been used to ablate brain structures to investigate
their physiological functions.
Although the technology for clinical radiation therapy has
advanced significantly in the past 25 years, the methods for
radiation delivery in a laboratory setting have lagged
behind. Modern radiotherapy uses image guidance to
deliver highly conformal radiation to a target volume while
sparing normal tissue structures. By contrast, up to now
methods used in animal research to irradiate spontaneous
or orthotopic tumors and their metastases were guided by
external features alone, and generally exposed a large
portion of the body to radiation. The SARRP has on-board
cone beam CT imaging (0.25-0.5 mm voxel size) to guide
radiation delivery. It can deliver highly conformal radiation
to target volumes with sub-millimeter accuracy. As such, it
can precisely irradiate small volumes with a level of
precision that approaches current clinical practice. This is
especially important to investigate the systemic effects of
local radiotherapy (abscopal effects) when radiotherapy is
combined with immunotherapy.
1 of 2
6/20/2016
CORE FACILITY DESCRIPTION
Major Equipment








Services






Kilovoltage x-ray tube mounted on a 360° rotating
gantry and a dose rate of approximately 200 cGy
per minute. The tube provides a low-energy beam
for cone-beam CT imaging (with a flat panel
detector) and a high-energy beam for radiotherapy
Focal irradiation of a target volume with submillimeter accuracy (0.4 mm)
On-board tomographic imaging
Volumetric treatment planning to design highprecision pre-clinical irradiation experiments
Radiation safety considerations, including
interlocks and override shutoffs, lead-lined safety
cabinet surrounding the SARRP
Dosimetry and calibration equipment
Gas anesthesia capability
Biosafety level 2 laminar flow hood and associated
facilities and supplies
Deliver highly conformal radiation to target volumes
in the mouse or rat with sub-millimeter accuracy.
As such, small volumes can precisely be irradiated
with a level of precision that approaches current
clinical practice. These volumes may include
orthotopic tumors, spontaneous tumors or critical
normal tissues targeted for ablation or investigation
while sparing surrounding normal tissues.
The animal is placed horizontally on a four-axis
robotic positioner that provides 360° rotary motion
for cone-beam CT with 1 cGy imaging dose, and
translation and rotation for radiotherapy targeting.
Gas anesthesia
Biosafety level 2 environment
Images obtained in the Small Animal Imaging
Center can be co-registered with those obtained in
the SARRP.
A highly skilled professional will operate the
SARRP.
2 of 2
6/20/2016