Chapter 7 - RadTherapy
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Transcript Chapter 7 - RadTherapy
Chapter 7
Determining Radiation Intensity
The Importance of Standardized
Radiation Measurement
• Standard units allow radiation oncologists to
predict biological effects and therapeutic
outcomes.
• Skin erythema dose: earliest radiation unit, the
amount of radiation necessary to barely redden
skin of a light skinned person.
• 1electrostatic unit of charge (esu): unit of xray exposure that describes an ionization
chamber of 1cc volume in which the calibration
of radiation beams was based on the ionization
of gas.
Roentgen
• Roentgen: an exposure of x or gamma radiation such
that the associated corpuscular emission (ions:
electrons, positive atoms or molecules) per 0.001293
gram of dry air produces in air, ions carrying 1
electrostatic unit of charge of either sign.
Designed to make the calibration of x-ray machines consistent
throughout the world.
1 roentgen= 1R=2.58*10-4 coulomb/kg(of dry air)
• Describes the amount of radiation present by measuring
its ionizing effects on air.
Not an energy measurement of the photons, or energy absorbed
by matter.
Limitations in using Roentgen
• Assumes all corpuscular emissions are collected
Dosimeter must be capable of collecting all secondary
electrons produced by photons.
The highest energy that can be measured in
roentgens is 3 MeV.
• Only defined for x-ray & gamma rays.
Particle beams of electrons, neutrons, etc. cannot be
measured.
• Measuring instruments must be similar to air in
composition so that secondary emissions are
similar to those in air.
Electrometers
• Electrometers: measure the charge or
current collected by the ion chamber and
displays results in coulombs, radiation
units, or radiation rate.
Calibrated dosimeter
• Calibrated dosimeter: one that has been calibrated by
an Accredited Dosimetry Calibration Laboratory (ADCL)
which has accurately determined the chamber calibration
factor.
The number of Roentgens per minute is determined for a given
set of treatment factors: distance, filter, kVp, mAs.
R = Reading * Temp in °K * 760 mmHg * Calibration factor
Min
Exposed time * 295 °K * Pressure in mmHg
• Calibration factor: used to obtain the accurate
conversion of collected charge or other units to
Roentgen for a specific radiation beam quality.
Specifies the relationship between the dosimeter’s reading and
the Roentgen.
Standard Temp. & Pressure
• Temperature and Pressure are necessary
because for most ionization chambers, both
affect the sensitivity of the detector.
• Sensitivity: dependant on the density of gas in
the chamber (number of molecules available to
be ionized).
Standard Temperature: 295 °K
Standard Pressure: 760 mmHg (1 torr)
• Conversions:
°K = °C + 273
°F = 9/5°C + 32
°C = (°F – 32) * 5/9
Beam Output
• Factors that effect beam output in conventional
x-ray units:
Filtration: output drops with added filter
• HVL: the thickness required for a particular material to cut the
beam’s intensity in half.
• Attenuation: the removal of energy from the beam.
Distance: intensity is inversely proportional to the
square of the distance from the source.
• I2 = I1(D1/D2)2
Tube current: output increases linearly with mA.
• mAs1/I1 = mAs2/I2
kVp: as kVp increases, output increases.
• OP2 = OP1 x (kVp2/kVp1)2
Kerma
• Kerma: Kinetic Energy Released in Matter
When photons interact with material in a phantom or
in a patient, atoms in the material are ionized, and the
electrons are set into motion with various kinetic
energy.
Measured in joules/kg.
The energy of electrons set in motion is not a
measure of energy deposition in tissue or of the
biological effect.
Used to relate the energy released in matter to
energy absorbed in matter.
Radiation Absorbed Dose
• Rad: energy absorption of ionizing radiation by materials.
• 100 ergs of energy absorbed per gram of matter.
• The absorbed dose per unit mass of air exposed to
exposure X(R):
Dair = X(R) x 0.873 cGy/R
• Absorbed Dose vs. Exposure
Applicable to all ionizing radiations, not just x-rays and gamma
rays.
Applicable even in areas where electronic equilibrium does not
exist.
Directly related to radiation effects because it is the deposition of
energy by ionizing radiation, not the mere ionization of air
molecules.
Fmedium Factor
• Fmedium Factor: relates the dose in air to the dose in tissue.
The roentgen to rad conversion factor.
[0.873cGy/R x (μ/ρ)medium/ (μ/ρ)air]
• Mass attenuation coefficient (μ/ρ): probability of interaction per
unit mass length when μ/ρ << 1, (cm2/g).
Decreasing the density of the material will cause much less
attenuation.
Every material has a unique value of (μ/ρ) for a given photon
energy.
• The ratio of doses in two different materials is the ratio of their
mass energy absorption coefficients.
The dose in a particular medium is equal to the dose in air
times the ratio of the mass energy absorption coefficient of
the medium to that of air.
• Dmed = Dair x [(μ/ρ)medium/ (μ/ρ)air]
• Dmed = X(R) x [0.873cGy/R x (μ/ρ)medium/ (μ/ρ)air]
• Dmed = X(R) x fmed
Fmedium Factor
• At lower photon energies and materials having
high atomic numbers the fmed will be higher due
to the photoelectric absorption at lower photon
energies and higher Z.
• At energies >100keV, the fmed falls with higher Z
materials due to Compton interactions.
• At high energies >2MeV the fmed rises due to
pair production.
• The fmed is fairly constant for soft tissues
(lower Z).
Bragg-Gray Cavity Theory
• Bragg-Gray cavity theory: a model of
radiation interaction that assumes that the
ionization chamber acts like a tiny cavity
inside a uniform phantom. The cavity
must be small enough to leave the
spectrum of the beam unchanged.
Dose Equivalent
• Dose Equivalent: relates different types of radiation to xrays.
• The amount of a standard x-ray radiation that has the
same biological effect an another non-standard radiation.
Heavy particle beams have greater biological effectiveness than
x-rays.
Dose Equivalent = Absorbed Dose x Quality Factor
• Quality Factor: compares the biological effectiveness of
a particle radiation to a standard x-ray radiation.
X-ray, gamma rays:
Electrons:
Neutrons & protons < 10 MeV:
Natural alpha particles:
Heavy recoil nuclei:
1
1
10
20
20