Feasibility study of glass dosimeter postal dosimetry audit of high-energy radiotherapy photon beams

• Published in: Radiotherapy and oncology Vol. 86; no. 2; pp. 258 - 263
• Main Authors: Mizuno, Hideyuki, Kanai, Tatsuaki, Kusano, Yohsuke, Ko, Susumu, Ono, Mari, Fukumura, Akifumi, Abe, Kyoko, Nishizawa, Kanae, Shimbo, Munefumi, Sakata, Suoh, Ishikura, Satoshi, Ikeda, Hiroshi
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Ireland Elsevier Ireland Ltd 01.02.2008
• Subjects: Feasibility Studies; Glass; Glass dosimeter; Hematology, Oncology and Palliative Medicine; Humans; Japan; Photons; Pilot Projects; Postal dose audit; Postal Service; Quality Assurance, Health Care; Radiometry; Reference condition; Reproducibility of Results; Thermoluminescent Dosimetry; Japan; Reference condition; Postal dose audit; Glass dosimeter
• ISSN: 0167-8140; 1879-0887
• DOI: 10.1016/j.radonc.2007.10.024

Author Introduction The characteristics of a glass dosimeter were investigated for its potential use as a tool for postal dose audits. Reproducibility, energy dependence, field size and depth dependence were compared to those of a thermoluminescence dosimeter (TLD), which has been the major tool for postal dose audits worldwide. Materials and methods A glass dosimeter, GD-302M (Asahi Techno Glass Co.) and a TLD, TLD-100 chip (Harshaw Co.) were irradiated with γ-rays from a60 Co unit and X-rays from a medical linear accelerator (4, 6, 10 and 20 MV). Results The dosimetric characteristics of the glass dosimeter were almost equivalent to those of the TLD, in terms of utility for dosimetry under the reference condition, which is a 10 × 10 cm2 field and 10 cm depth. Because of its reduced fading, compared to the TLD, and easy quality control with the ID number, the glass dosimeter proved to be a suitable tool for postal dose audits. Then, we conducted postal dose surveys of over 100 facilities and got good agreement, with a standard deviation of about 1.3%. Conclusions Based on this study, postal dose audits throughout Japan will be carried out using a glass dosimeter.