Program Information
A Comparison of Head Phantoms Used for Dose Determination in Imaging Procedures
Z Xiong*, S Vijayan , J Kilian-Meneghin , S Rudin , D Bednarek , Toshiba Stroke and Vascular Research Center, University at Buffalo, Buffalo, NY
Presentations
SU-G-206-5 (Sunday, July 31, 2016) 4:00 PM - 6:00 PM Room: 206
Purpose: To determine similarities and differences between various head phantoms that might be used for dose measurements in diagnostic imaging procedures.
Methods: We chose four frequently used anthropomorphic head phantoms (SK-150, PBU-50, RS-240T and Alderson Rando), a computational patient phantom (Zubal) and the CTDI head phantom for comparison in our study. We did a CT scan of the head phantoms using the same protocol and compared their dimensions and CT numbers. The scan data was used to calculate dose values for each of the phantoms using EGSnrc Monte Carlo software. An .egsphant file was constructed to describe these phantoms using a Visual C++ program for DOSXYZnrc/EGSnrc simulation. The lens dose was calculated for a simulated CBCT scan using DOSXYZnrc/EGSnrc and the calculated doses were validated with measurements using Gafchromic film and an ionization chamber. Similar calculations and measurements were made for PA radiography to investigate the attenuation and backscatter differences between these phantoms. We used the Zubal phantom as the standard for comparison since it was developed based on a CT scan of a patient.
Results: The lens dose for the Alderson Rando phantom is around 9% different than the Zubal phantom, while the lens dose for the PBU-50 phantom was about 50% higher, possibly because its skull thickness and the density of bone and soft tissue are lower than anthropometric values. The lens dose for the CTDI phantom is about 500% higher because of its totally different structure. The entrance dose profiles are similar for the five anthropomorphic phantoms, while that for the CTDI phantom was distinctly different.
Conclusion: The CTDI and PBU-50 head phantoms have substantially larger lens dose estimates in CBCT. The other four head phantoms have similar entrance dose with backscatter hence should be preferred for dose measurement in imaging procedures of the head.
Funding Support, Disclosures, and Conflict of Interest: Partial support from NIH Grant R01-EB002873 and Toshiba Medical Systems Corp.
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