Program Information
Dosimetric Assessment of Using Brass Mesh Bolus with High Energy X-Ray Beams
R Manger*, A Yock , D Soultan , T Harry , L Cervino , University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA
Presentations
SU-E-T-298 (Sunday, July 12, 2015) 3:00 PM - 6:00 PM Room: Exhibit Hall
Purpose: Brass mesh bolus has been shown to be an acceptable substitute for tissue equivalent bolus to increase superficial dose for 6 MV chest wall tangent plans. It may be advantageous to deliver a portion of the treatment using higher energy beams to decrease dose heterogeneity. The purpose of this study is to investigate the photoneutron production and activation of brass mesh bolus by high energy x-ray beams.
Methods: MCNPX was used to determine brass mesh photoneutron energy spectrum and PDDs for 15 MV and 24 MV beams. PDD and photoneutron spectra were determined with and without photoneutron production to assess the contribution of photoneutrons to CAX dose. Brass mesh was placed on a solid water slab phantom and irradiated with 500 MU of 15 MV photons at 100cm SSD. A Geiger-Mueller counter was used to record counts in 10-second intervals for 30 minutes. A survey meter was used to estimate dose on contact immediately following irradiation.
Results: The thickness of brass mesh bolus for MCNPX simulation was 0.4 mm. The PDDs with and without photoneutron production were statistically equivalent (i.e. the increase in neutron dose at the central axis is insignificant). Using ICRP 103 dose conversion coefficients, the increase in effective dose from en-face delivery of 300 MU was 0.047 mSv for 15 MV and 0.525 mSV for 24 MV. The dose rate on contact after the 500 MU irradiation was 0.4 mrem/hr. The effective half-life was estimated to approximately 6 minutes.
Conclusion: The use of brass mesh bolus with high energy beams does not significantly affect central axis PDD. The use of a 24 MV beam with brass bolus results in nearly 10 times the increase in effective dose as with 15 MV. The activation products produced by brass bolus have an effective half-life of approximately 6 minutes.
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