Radiochromic dosimeter can read dose distribution in 3 dimensions

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Published: 14 May 2015
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Dr Ellen Marie Høye - Aarhus University Hospital, Aarhus, Denmark

Dr Høye talks to ecancertv at the 3rd ESTRO forum in Barcelona about a radiochromic dosimeter that has recently been developed. This can read dose distribution in 3 dimensions.

She also discusses how she faced the challenges that arose, such as dose rate dependence 

I am here to present my work. I have a poster with me and a poster discussion. Actually I just won the poster award; that was very nice. So I’m presenting my work to a broad audience here. We have developed a radiochromic dosimeter so you can see a dose distribution in three dimensions. So you read it out with optical CT and then this dosimeter must first be developed so we have looked at the physical and chemical properties. We had a problem in the beginning that we had dose rate dependence so when we irradiate with 2Gy/min we got a better response than with 6Gy/min and that is a big problem in the clinic. We wanted it to be the same and what I found is that when I increased the chemical dye concentration then we could get 0% dose rate dependence and that was very nice.

Why is it better than what we have done before?

For us it’s good that we can change the chemical composition so anyone in the world can make this dosimeter. It’s not commercial so everyone can check our results. Then we can make it so that it’s perfect for what we need it for. So, for example, if we want to extend to proton therapy then we can also change the dosimeter to fit for proton therapy. This is very good for the patient because you need to check the treatment of the patient and be clear that your treatment is correct and this you can check with this dosimeter.

How do you control the dosage?

It would be something you would use when you are starting up a new type of treatment to check that everything is working as it should be. Because it’s a little bit time-consuming, so it’s not something for every patient, it’s before a new type of treatment you would use it. And then you can see if you have too much dose or in the wrong place or if your beams overlap correctly or all of this you can check.