No abstract

Extended-range BSS, TEPCs, and the WENDI-II enable accurate measurements of stray neutrons while other rem-counters are not appropriate considering the high-energy range of neutrons involved in proton therapy.

In interventional radiology, for an accurate determination of effective dose to the staff, measurements with two dosemeters have been recommended, one located above and one under the protective apron. Such 'double dosimetry' practices and the algorithms used for the determination of effective dose were reviewed in this study by circulating a questionnaire and by an extensive literature search. The results indicated that regulations for double dosimetry almost do not exist and there is no firm consensus on the most suitable calculation algorithms. The calculation of effective dose is mainly based on the single dosemeter measurements, in which either personal dose equivalent, directly, (dosemeter below the apron) or a fraction of personal dose equivalent (dosemeter above the apron) is taken as an assessment of effective dose. The most recent studies suggest that there might not be just one double dosimetry algorithm that would be optimum for all interventional radiology procedures. Further investigations in several critical configurations of interventional radiology procedures are needed to assess the suitability of the proposed algorithms.

Proton beam therapy has advantages in comparison to conventional photon radiotherapy due to the physical properties of proton beams (e.g. sharp distal fall off, adjustable range and modulation). In proton therapy, there is the possibility of sparing healthy tissue close to the target volume. This is especially important when tumours are located next to critical organs and while treating cancer in paediatric patients. On the other hand, the interactions of protons with matter result in the production of secondary radiation, mostly neutrons and gamma radiation, which deposit their energy at a distance from the target. The aim of this study was to compare the response of different passive dosimetry systems in mixed radiation field induced by proton pencil beam inside anthropomorphic phantoms representing 5 and 10 years old children. Doses were measured in different organs with thermoluminescent (MTS-7, MTS-6 and MCP-N), radiophotoluminescent (GD-352 M and GD-302M), bubble and poly-allyl-diglycol carbonate (PADC) track detectors. Results show that RPL detectors are the less sensitive for neutrons than LiF TLDs and can be applied for in-phantom dosimetry of gamma component. Neutron doses determined using track detectors, bubble detectors and pairs of MTS-7/MTS-6 are consistent within the uncertainty range. This is the first study dealing with measurements on child anthropomorphic phantoms irradiated by a pencil scanning beam technique.

Systematic 3D mapping of out-of-field doses induced by a therapeutic proton pencil scanning beam in a 300  ×  300  ×  600 mm water phantom was performed using a set of thermoluminescence detectors (TLDs): MTS-7 (LiF:Mg,Ti), MTS-6 (LiF:Mg,Ti), MTS-N (LiF:Mg,Ti) and TLD-700 (LiF:Mg,Ti), radiophotoluminescent (RPL) detectors GD-352M and GD-302M, and polyallyldiglycol carbonate (PADC)-based (CHO) track-etched detectors. Neutron and gamma-ray doses, as well as linear energy transfer distributions, were experimentally determined at 200 points within the phantom. In parallel, the Geant4 Monte Carlo code was applied to calculate neutron and gamma radiation spectra at the position of each detector. For the cubic proton target volume of 100  ×  100  ×  100 mm (spread out Bragg peak with a modulation of 100 mm) the scattered photon doses along the main axis of the phantom perpendicular to the primary beam were approximately 0.5 mGy Gy at a distance of 100 mm and 0.02 mGy Gy at 300 mm from the center of the target. For the neutrons, the corresponding values of dose equivalent were found to be ~0.7 and ~0.06 mSv Gy, respectively. The measured neutron doses were comparable with the out-of-field neutron doses from a similar experiment with 20 MV x-rays, whereas photon doses for the scanning proton beam were up to three orders of magnitude lower.