Experimental determination of radiation dose distribution in an heterogeneous medium, irradiated with clinical beams of x and gamma rays / Determinação experimental da distribuição de dose de radiação em meio heterôgenio, irradiado por raios-x e gama radioterápicos

AUTOR(ES)
DATA DE PUBLICAÇÃO

1989

RESUMO

An experimental study of the perturbation caused by a cylindrical inhomogeneity of aluminium on dose distribution in a water phantom, irradiated by high energy photons used in radiation therapy, was performed, employing radiographic film as dosimeter. With these materials we intended to simulate the interface between bone and muscular tissue. The film was placed parallel to the beam axis, passing between the bases of two aluminium rods, with their axis being perpendicular to the film plane. This system was immersed in a cubic water phantom and irradiated by two photon beams: a gamma ray beam of a cobalt 60 source, and a 10 MeV bremsstrahlung X-ray, both produced by radiation therapy machines. By scanning the films in a computer controlled microdensitometer, the dose distributions were measured in the plane of the films. A previous study of the film response, showed that the optical density is proporcional to dose and film sensitivity is nearly the same in water and aluminium, under charged particle equilibrium condition. It was found that large errors occur when the inhomogeneity is ignored in dose calculation. A dose enhancement of about 9% and 11% in aluminium was observed, respectively, for the gamma and X rays beams. It was concluded that the film is good for this kind of measurements and may be employed in high energy photon beams, in particular, when high spatial resolution is needed. The method may be improved by the development of a software to fully exploit the microdensitometer-computer interface capability.

ASSUNTO(S)

dosimetria de interface interface dosimetry dosimetria film dosimetry heterogeneity dosimetria com filme heterogeneidade dosimetry

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