LiF:Mg,Ti, are widely used to estimate absorbed-dose received by patients during diagnostic or medical treatment. Conveniently, measurements are usually made in plastic phantoms. However, experimental conditions vary from one group to another and consequently, a lack of consensus data exists for the energy dependence of thermoluminescent (TL) response. This work investigated the energy dependence of TLD-100 TL-response and the effect of irradiating the dosimeters in different phantom materials for a broad range of energy photons in an attempt to understand the parameters that affect the discrepancies reported by various research groups. TLD-100s were exposed to 20-300 kV narrow x-ray spectra, (137)Cs and (60)Co photons. Measurements were performed in air, PMMA, wt1, polystyrene and TLDS as surrounding material. Total air-kerma values delivered were between 50 and 150 mGy for x-rays and 50 mGy for (137)Cs and (60)Co beams; each dosimeter was irradiated individually. Relative response, R, defined as the TL-response per air-kerma and relative efficiency, RE, described as the TL-response per absorbed-dose (obtained through Monte Carlo (MC) and analytically) were used to describe the TL-response. Both R and RE are normalized to the responses in a (60)Co beam. The results indicate that the use of different phantom materials affects the TL-response and this response varies with energy and material type. MC simulations reproduced qualitatively the experimental data: a) R increases, reaches a maximum at ~25 keV and decreases; b) RE decreases, down to a minimum at ~60 keV, increases to a maximum at ~150 keV and after decreases. Independent of the phantom materials, RE strongly depends on how the absorbed dose is evaluated and the discrepancies between RE evaluated analytically and by MC simulation are around 4% and 18%, dependent on the photon energy. The comparison between our results and that reported in the literature suggests that the discrepancy observed between different research groups appears to be most likely related to supralinearity effect, phantom materials, difference on the energy-spectra and geometry conditions during each experiment rather than parameters such as heating-rate or annealing procedure, which was supported by MC simulation. From the results obtained in this work and the strict analysis performed, we can conclude that for clinical applications of TLD-100, special attention must be taken when published data are used to convert TL calibration curve from (60)Co to low-energy photons. Otherwise, this can lead to incorrect results when later used to measure absorbed dose in human tissue.

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Absorbed dose distributions in 3D imparted by a single (90)Sr/(90)Y beta particle seed source of the type used for intravascular brachytherapy were investigated. A polymer gel dosimetry medium was used as a dosemeter and phantom, while a special high-resolution laser CT scanner with a spatial resolution of 100 microm in all dimensions was used to quantify the data. We have measured the radial dose function, g(L)(r), observing that g(L)(r) increases to a maximum value and then decreases as the distance from the seed increases. This is in good agreement with previous data obtained with radiochromic film and thermoluminescent dosemeters (TLDs), even if the TLDs underestimate the dose at distances very close to the seed. Contrary to the measurements, g(L)(r) calculated through Monte Carlo simulations and reported previously steadily decreases without a local maximum as a function of the distance from the seed. At distances less than 1.5 mm, differences of more than 20% are observed between the measurements and the Monte Carlo calculations. This difference could be due to a possible underestimation of the energy absorbed into the seed core and encapsulation in the Monte Carlo simulation, as a consequence of the unknown precise chemical composition of the core and its respective density for this seed. The results suggest that g(L)(r) can be measured very close to the seed with a relative uncertainty of about 1% to 2%. The dose distribution is isotropic only at distances greater than or equal to 2 mm from the seed and is almost symmetric, independent of the depth. This study indicates that polymer gel coupled with the special small format laser CT scanner are valid and accurate methods for measuring the dose distribution at distances close to an intravascular brachytherapy seed.