BENCHMARKING A NEW CHEMICAL DETECTOR FOR ITS IMPLEMENTATION IN CLINICAL RADIOLOGY

WLADIMIR MOLINA; DARÍO GRAÑA; LILA CARRISALEZ SILVA; GERMÁN TIRAO; MAURO VALENTE

Santa Marta

Congreso; XIII Latin American Seminary of Analysis by X-Ray Techniques; 2012

Asociación Colombiana de Cristalografía y Universidad de Santander

Solid state detectors have been largely studied in view of the potential application for clinical dosimetry,but there are several requirements hard to be accomplished, like good enough accuracy, signal stability,reproducibility and tissue-equivalence. Chemical detectors, like Fricke or polymeric solutions have provento be suitable choices for clinical dosimetry. However, these materials have been usually optimised andapplied to high-dose ranges, like those corresponding to typical dose levels in conventional externalradiotherapy. This work presents relevant results regarding the development of a suitable solid statedosimeter based on chemical reactions. Moreover, this work reports results about the performance andcharacterisation at low dose levels of the developed dosimeter as well as preliminary tests for itsimplementation in clinical radiology. The first step consisted on assessing and studying a suitablechemical composition for high sensitive response at low dose levels (around 50mGy) as required forradio-diagnostic purposes. Then, dedicated experiments and Monte Carlo simulations were performedwith the aim of cross-comparisons and preliminary validation of the method. Furthermore, suitableexperimental and virtual configurations were used for checking the capability of the developed dosimetrictechnique for digital diagnostic radiography and computed tomography, even using anthropomorphictissue-equivalance phantoms. Both absorption contrast digital radiography and computed tomographyexperiments have been performed with complete control of all physical, geometrical and technicalimaging parameters at the integrated medical imaging line of Laboratorio de Investigaciones eInstrumentacion en Fisica Aplicada a la Medicina e Imagenes por Rayos X (LIIFAMIR X) of theUniversity of Cordoba, Argentina. The obtained results proved the feasibility and reliability of theproposed method. Moreover, it has been shown that the developed dosimetry may be adequate for itspotential implementation in daily or routine quality control and assurance for clinical radiation therapy.