[BANG-polymer dosimetry in the proton therapy of eye neoplasms]. / BANG-Polymergeldosimetrie in der Protonentherapie von Augentumoren.

The use of polymer gel makes it possible to measure three-dimensional dose distributions of ionizing radiation. Phantoms with BANG-1 and BANG-3 gel were irradiated using a 68 MeV proton beam at the eye tumour therapy beam line of the Hahn Meitner Institute in Berlin. Up to twelve treatment fields could be applied to one gel phantom. The investigations consisted of mono-energetic Bragg curves, spread-out Bragg curves of circular fields (diameter 20 mm), and spread-out Bragg curves of patient fields. Magnetic resonance imaging was used to obtain the gel dose distributions. The results were compared to measurements of a water-phantom ionization chamber. The BANG polymer gels showed a significant quenching of Bragg peaks compared to ionization chamber measurements. The BANG-3 gel was found to be unsuitable for further investigations with 68 MeV protons. The use of BANG-1 allowed the verification of wedge slopes and irregular field forms. On the basis of our experience, polymer gels are well suited for quality assurance in proton therapy in principle.

[Properties of a commercial Hi-pSi detector for dosimetry of stereotactic collimators with very small diameters]. / Eigenschaften eines kommerzillen Hi-pSi-Detektors für die Dosimetrie stereotaktischer Kollimatoren mit sehr kleinen Durchmessern.

BACKGROUND: Conformal stereotactic radiosurgery and radiotherapy with linear accelerators and hole collimators yield a dose concentration in the target volume by rotation of the gantry. For small target volumes collimators with isocentre diameters of 4-45 mm are used. In this paper dosimetric measurements with a commercial high doped p-type silicon detector are demonstrated and compared to measurements with diamond detector and ionisation chamber. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The properties of the silicon detector SFD from Scanditronix were investigated with the radiation of a Gammatron S and a Varian 2100 CD at 6 MV. The results were compared with those of a calibrated ionisation chamber (0.3 cm3) and a diamond detector. MEASUREMENTS AND RESULTS: At the beginning the reproductibility of the registered dose and dose rate and the temperature dependence of the Si-detector were investigated at the Gammatron S. For the comparison the absorbed dose was measured with the ionisation chamber in air. The sensitivity decreases slightly with dose and dose rate. After a period of several days without radiation again higher doses were registered. The temperature dependence causes deviations of 0.25%/K. The signal-to-noise ratio and the spatial resolution were investigated with the linear accelerator. The signal-to-noise ratio is clearly lower compared with that of the diamond detector, whereas the resolution is nearly the same. CONCLUSIONS: The Si-detector is qualified for dosimetry of very small fields because of the insignificant dose and dose rate dependence and in spite of some disadvantages regarding dosimetric properties compared with the diamond detector. The advantage is the availability and the cost. Measurement with ionisation chambers are not useful for collimator diameters below 20 mm.