Program Information
Pure Alanine Dosimeter for Verification Dosimetry in IMRT
Anan M. Al-Karmi*, Fadi Zraiqat, Physics Department, King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals, Dhahran 31261, Saudi Arabia
Presentations
SU-E-T-643 (Sunday, July 12, 2015) 3:00 PM - 6:00 PM Room: Exhibit Hall
Purpose: The objective of this study was evaluation of accuracy of pure alanine dosimeters measuring intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) dose distributions in a thorax phantom.
Methods: Alanine dosimeters were prepared in the form of 110 mg pure L-α-alanine powder filled into clear tissue-equivalent polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) plastic tubes with the dimensions 25 mm length, 3 mm inner diameter, and 1 mm wall thickness. A dose-response calibration curve was established for the alanine by placing the dosimeters at 1.5 cm depth in a 30x30x30 cm³ solid water phantom and then irradiating on a linac with 6 MV photon beam at 10x10 cm² field size to doses ranging from 1 to 5 Gy. Electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopy was used to determine the absorbed dose in alanine. An IMRT treatment plan was designed for a commercial heterogeneous CIRS thorax phantom and the dose values were calculated at three different points located in tissue, lung, and bone equivalent materials. A set of dose measurements was carried out to compare measured and calculated dose values by placing the alanine dosimeters at those selected locations inside the thorax phantom and delivering the IMRT to the phantom.
Results: The alanine dose measurements and the IMRT plan dose calculations were found to be in agreement within ±2%. Specifically, the deviations were -0.5%, 1.3%, and -1.7% for tissue, lung, and bone; respectively. The slightly large deviations observed for lung and bone may be attributed to tissue inhomogeneity, steep dose gradients in these regions, and uncontrollable changes in spectrometer conditions.
Conclusion: The results described herein confirmed that pure alanine dosimeter was suitable for in-phantom dosimetry of IMRT beams because of its high sensitivity and acceptable accuracy. This makes the dosimeter a promising option for quality control of the therapeutic beams, complementing the commonly used ionization chambers, TLDs, and films.
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