RDII - Chapter 11 Handout

7/30/2019 RDII - Chapter 11 Handout

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Dosimetry Fundamentals

Chapter 11

F.A. Attix, Introduction to Radiological

Physics and Radiation Dosimetry

Outline

Introduction

Dosimeter model

Interpretation of dosimeter measurements

Photons and neutrons

Charged particles

General characteristics of dosimeters

Summary

Introduction

Radiation dosimetry deals with the determination(i.e., by measurement or calculation) of theabsorbed dose or dose rate resulting from theinteraction of ionizing radiation with matter

Other radiologically relevant quantities areexposure, kerma, fluence, dose equivalent, energyimparted, etc. can be determined

Measuring one quantity (usually the absorbed

dose) another one can be derived throughcalculations based on the defined relationships

Dosimeter

A dosimetercan be generally defined as

any device that is capable of providing a

readingR that is a measure of the absorbed

doseDgdeposited in itssensitive volume V

by ionizing radiation

If the dose is not homogeneous

throughout the sensitive

volume, thenR is a measure of

mean value

Dosimeter

Ordinarily one is not interested in measuringthe absorbed dose in a dosimeters sensitivevolume itself, but rather as a means ofdetermining the dose (or a related quantity) foranother medium in which direct measurementsare not feasible

Interpretation of a dosimeter reading is thecentral problem in dosimetry, usuallyexceeding in difficulty the actual measurement

Simple dosimeter model

A dosimeter can generally be considered asconsisting of a sensitive volume Vfilled with a

mediumg, surrounded by a wall (or envelope,

container, etc.) of another medium w having a

thickness t 0

A simple dosimeter can be treated in

terms of cavity theory, the sensitive

volume being identified as the

cavity, which may contain a

gaseous, liquid, or solid medium g


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Simple dosimeter model The dosimeter wallcan serve a number of functions

simultaneously:

being a source of secondary charged particles that contributeto the dose in V, and provide CPE or TCPE in some cases

shielding Vfrom charged particles that originate outside thewall

protecting Vfrom hostile influences such as mechanicaldamage, dirt, humidity, light, electrostatic or RF fields, etc.,that may alter the reading

serving as a container forgthat is a gas, liquid, or powder

containing radiation filters to modify the energy dependencyof the dosimeter

Interpretation of dosimeter

measurements: photons and neutrons

Under CPE condition

Consider a dosimeter with a wall of medium w, thick enough

to exclude all charged particles generated elsewhere, and at

least as thick as the maximum range of secondary charged

particles generated in it by the photon or neutron field

If the wall is uniformly irradiated, CPE exists in the wall

near the cavity, therefore knowing Dw can calculate energy

fluence Y of the primary field

CPE en /cD K Y



The dosimeter reading provides us with a measureof the doseDgin the dosimeters sensitive volume

If the latter is small enough to satisfy the B-Gconditions, we can find Dw fromDg

The doseDx in any other medium x replacing thedosimeter and given an identical irradiation underCPE conditions can be obtained from

photonsfor//

wen

xen

w

CPE

x DD



For neutrons the CPE condition results in

Fn is kerma-factor, F is neutron fluence

Therefore the doseDx in the medium of interest x

CPE

nD K F F

CPE

for neutronsn x

x wn w

FD D

F



For higher-energy radiation (h 1 MeV orTn 10 MeV), CPE fails but TCPE takes its place indosimeters with walls of sufficient thickness

For photons TCPE condition provides relationship

For neutrons

RelatingDw to Y orF then requires evaluation of =D/Kc for each case

TCPE

en1 /

c cD K x K Y

TCPE

1nD K x K F F



The exposureX(C/kg) for photons can in turn bederived from the absorbed doseDair(forx = air)through this relation:

This relationship can be extended for higherenergies where TCPE exists, dividing Dairby

CPEair

air

air 33.97

DeX D

W


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The value of is generally not much greater than

unity for radiation energies up to a few tens of MeV,and it is not strongly dependent on atomic number

Thus for media w andx not differing very greatly in

Z, the equations forDx are still approximately valid

If the dosimeter has too large a sensitive volume for

the application of B-G theory, Burlin theory can be

used to calculate the equilibrium dose Dw from

requires sensitive-volume size dparameter

gD

Advantages of media matching

Matching parameters:

Atomic compositions

The density state (gaseous vs. condensed), which

influences the collision-stopping-power ratios for

electrons by the polarization effect

Advantages:

Influence of cavity theory is minimized

No need to know the radiation energy spectrum

Advantages of media matching

w=g: if the wall and sensitive-volume media of the

dosimeter are identical with respect to composition

and density, thenDw =Dgfor all homogeneous

irradiations

w=g=x: the dosimeter would be truly representative

of that medium with respect to radiation interactions,

andDx =Dw =Dg

Unfortunately, dosimeters are only available in afinite variety, therefore have to rely on cavity theory

Media matching in photon

dosimeters (w=g) The Burlin cavity relation

Ifw andgare matched, the dosesDw= Dgand

This relationship is hard to satisfy, especially forwandgof different atomic compositions

en(1 )

g

g g

m w

w w

Dd S d

D

en 1

g

g

m w

w

S

Media matching in photon

dosimeters (w=g)

A more flexible and practical relationship

The Burling relation then becomes independent of d

since

It is relevant, for example, if photons interact onlyby the Compton effect ingand w: en/ ~the masscollision scattering power of the secondary electrons~ to the number of electrons per gram, NAZ/A;

n (Z/A)g/(Z/A)w

en

g

g

m w

w

S n

nDD wg /

Matching the dosimeter to the

medium of interest when wg

If the wall medium wg, matching to medium xdepends on the dosimeter volume size

If the sensitive volume is small (d= 1 in Burlins

cavity theory), then the wall should be matched to

mediumx, to minimize the need for spectral

information

Dose inx can be obtained from

en

w

g g gwm w

x w x x

D D DS

D D D


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Matching the dosimeter to the

medium of interest when wg If the sensitive volume is large (d= 0 in Burlins

cavity theory), the wall influence on the dose in themediumgis entirely lost

Mediumx should be matched togand dose inx can be

obtained from

For a general case of intermediate size cavity (0


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measurements: charged particles

One of the functions of the dosimeter wall is to provide -rayCPE for the sensitive volume

This will occur if: 1) the wall matches the sensitive volumewith respect to atomic number and density state, 2) is at leastas thick as the -ray range, and 3) is uniformly irradiatedthroughout by the primary charged particles

The importance of the wall as a -ray generator is greatest formeasurements of the dose in free space

For measurements where dosimeter is immersed in a medium:

Wall thickness is not important if the medium, the wall, and thesensitive volume are all similar in composition

If they differ significantly electron scattering affects the result the most


measurements: charged particles

There is no general and physically realistic cavity

theory for relating the dose in a dosimeter to that inthe medium at the point of measurement in an

electron beam

The problem appears to be with electron scattering,

resulting in the measured dose dependence on the

shape and orientation of the cavity

A successful theory must account for it as a first-

order effect

General characteristics of

dosimeters

Absoluteness

Precision and accuracy

Dose range

Dose rate range

Stability

Energy dependence

Miscellany (configuration, relevantcalibration, reusability, etc.)

Absoluteness

An absolute dosimetercan be assembled and used tomeasure the absorbed dose deposited in its ownsensitive volume without requiring calibration in aknown field of radiation

It may need some calibration not involving radiation(e.g, electrical-heating for a calorimetric dosimeter)

Calibration, however, offers certain advantages:

It can be stated in terms of some quantity of interest such astissue dose (as opposed to dose in g) or exposure

It can also provide traceability to a standardizationlaboratory thus minimizing errors that may go undetected

Absoluteness Three types of dosimeters are generally regarded as

being capable of absoluteness: Calorimetric dosimeters

Ionization chambers

Fricke ferrous sulfate dosimeters

The calorimetric dosimeter has the fundamentaladvantage of directly measuring the heat to whichthe absorbed dose degrades, without dependence onany coefficient of conversion such as to ionizationor to chemical yield

The absoluteness of a dosimeter is independent ofits precision or its accuracy


The concept of theprecision or reproducibility ofdosimeter measurements has to do with random errorsdue to fluctuations in instrumental characteristics,ambient conditions, and so on, and the stochasticnature of radiation fields

Precision can be estimated from the data obtained inrepeated measurements, and is usually stated in termsof the standard deviation

High precision is associated with a small standarddeviation; a high-precision instrument is capable ofexcellent measurement reproducibility if properly used


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The accuracy of dosimeter measurements expressesthe proximity of their expectation value to the true

value of the quantity being measured

It is impossible to evaluate the accuracy of data fromthe data itself, as is done to assess their precision

Accuracy is a measure of the collective effect of theerrors that influence the measurements (propercalibration, exactly known volume, etc.), relevant tooperation of the dosimeter as an absolute instrument

In experiments that are limited to relativemeasurements, only the precision is important

Dose range: sensitivity

To be useful, a dosimeter must have adequate dosesensitivity throughout the dose range to bemeasured

A constant dose sensitivity throughout the rangeprovides a linear response (dr/dDg=const), that isdesirable for ease of calibration and interpretation

However, knowing the function r(Dg), evennonlinear but single-valued, may be acceptable,though it requires that the calibration be carried outat multiple doses to provide a calibration curve

Dose range: lower limit

The lower limit of the useful dose range may beimposed by the instrumental backgroundor zero-dose reading r0, observed whenDg= 0 (sometimesreferred to as spurious response)

Examples ofr0 include charge readings due to ion-chamber insulator leakage, and thermo-luminescence dosimeter readings resulting fromresponse of the reader to infrared light emission bythe dosimeter heater

The instrumental background should be subtractedfrom any dosimeter reading


The lower limit of the practical dose range of adosimeter is usually estimated to be the dose necessaryto double the instrumental background reading

If is the S.D. of the average of a group of radiationreadings r, and 0 is the S.D. of the average of thebackground readings r0, then the S.D. of the netradiation reading rr0 is given by

2 2

net 0


If the background reading is negligibly small, thenthe lower dose limit is imposed by the capability

of the dosimeter readout instrument to provide a

readable value ofrfor the dose to be measured Dg

Readable value ris typically considered to be

10% of full scale on analogue instruments, or

contain more than three significant figures on

digital readouts

A more sensitive scale may be required

Dose range: upper limit

The upper limit of the useful dose range of a dosimetermay be imposed simply by external instrumentallimitations (reading off scale of an electrometer)

Alternatively, an inherent limit may be imposed by thedosimeter itself due to:

a) Exhaustion of the supply of atoms, molecules, or solid-stateentities (traps) being acted upon by the radiation to

produce the reading

b) Competing reactions by radiation products, for example inchemical dosimeters

c) Radiation damage to the dosimeter (e.g., discoloration oflight-emitting dosimeters, damage to electrical insulators)


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Dose range: upper limit

Usually the upper limit of the dose range is manifested by adecrease in the dose sensitivity (dr/dDg) to an unacceptablevalue

It may be reduced to zero, or to a negative value, whichcauses the dose-response function to become double-valued

Dose-rate range: integrating

dosimeters If a dosimeter is used for measuring the time-integrated

dose (not the dose rate), then its reading should notdepend on the dose rate

Usually the low-dose-rate limitation is imposed by thelower dose limits of the dosimeter

One case of a genuine low-dose-rate limitation isreciprocity-law failure in photographic film dosimeters

It occurs only with low-LET radiation (x rays or electrons)

It is due to the necessity for several ionizing events to occurin a single grain of silver bromide to make it developable

Dose-rate range: integrating

dosimeters The upper limit of dose-rate independence usually

occurs when charged-particle tracks are createdclose enough together in space and time to allow theions, electron-hole pairs, or active chemical productssuch as free radicals to interact between tracks

In an ion chamber this is called general or volumeionic recombination

Similar back reactions also occur in solid or liquid

dosimeters, resulting in a loss of contribution to thereading r

Dose-rate range: dose-rate meters

The dose-rate-measuring dosimeters should providereadings proportional to the dose rate dDg/dt, or at leastto be a single-valued function of it

The upper limit on the usable dose-rate range is usuallyimposed by saturation such as ionic recombination, etc.

The counting of two or more events as one when theyoccur temporally too close together in pulse-countingdosimeters also may cause saturation

The response time constantcharacterizes the capabilityof the dosimeter to resolve separate pulses and possiblymeasure the pulse shape in a pulsed radiation field

Stability

The characteristics of a dosimeter should be stablewith time until it is used

That includes shelf life and time spent in situ untilirradiated (e.g., worn by personnel if a health-physicsmonitoring dosimeter)

Effects of temperature, atmospheric oxygen orhumidity, light, and so on can cause a gradual changein the dose sensitivity or the instrumental background

Photographic, chemical, or solid-state dosimeters aregenerally more susceptible to these influences than ionchambers or counters

Stability

After irradiation the latent reading in some types ofintegrating dosimeters (e.g., photographic,chemical, solid-state) may be unstable, sufferingfading losses during the time interval betweenirradiation and readout

Harsh ambient conditions may aggravate this effect

If time-dependent fading losses are unavoidable, itis advantageous to make them as reproducible aspossible through standardization of laboratorytechnique so that a fading correction can be appliedto the readings


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Energy dependence

The energy dependence of a dosimeter is the dependence of its

reading r, per unit of the quantity it is supposed to measure,

upon the quantum or kinetic energy of the radiation

The reading robtained from adosimeter vs. some dosimetricquantity J(such as exposure,absorbed dose in water, etc.)

A: The calibration curves obtainedat the three different energies

C: Plot r/J vs. energy to obtain theenergy-dependence curves; forJ1andJ2 they are different forE>E1

D: Energy-independent dosimeter:r vs. J is the same for all energies

linear linear

non-linear non-linear

energy-

dependent

energy-

independent

Energy dependence in health physics

Dependence of the dosimeter reading, per unit of x- or-rayexposure, on the quality of the beam, r/Xvs.E

60Co -rays are frequently used as the reference energy fornormalization, producing energy-dependence curves for dosimetersmade of materials >, =, and < than airin atomic number

Energy dependence in health physics The shape of the curves can be estimated by:

where grefers to the material in the dosimeters sensitive volume

This equation is based on the assumptions that:

1. The dosimeters sensitive volume is in charged-particle equilibrium, andthe wall medium w =g

2. Attenuation is negligible in the dosimeter, both for incident photons andfluorescence photons generated in the dosimeter

3. A given absorbed dose to the sensitive volume produces the same reading,irrespective of photon energy (i.e., the dosimeter is LET-independent)

en

en air

en

1.25en air

1.25

/

/

/

/

g

E E

g

r

X

r

X

Energy dependence in radiation

therapy: absorbed dose

Dependence of the dosimeter reading per unit of

absorbed dose in water on the photon or electron-

beam energy

Absorbed dose always refers to water (or muscle

tissue) unless otherwise specified

In the megavolt region the differences between

water and tissue are small (~1%)



For x rays the equation by which a homogeneousdosimeters energy dependence can be estimated is

which depends on water as a reference material and60Co rays for normalization

This equation can be used over the energy rangefrom 1.25 to 50 MeV for LiF and bone-equivalentdosimeters

en en waterwater

water 1.25 en en water 1.25

/ / //

/ / / /

gE E

g

r D

r D


therapy : absorbed dose

X-ray energy dependence estimated for a LiF and a bone-equivalent dosimeter, in terms of response per unit absorbed dosein water, normalized to 60Co rays

The rise at higher energies results from increase in pair production


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therapy : absorbed dose Because of the large secondary-electron ranges at

MeV energies, this equation is only satisfied to theextent that TCPE is present, g= w, and parameteris the same in water as in the dosimeter

This requires wall thickness that would produceconsiderable x-ray attenuation, and just beimpractical for the size of the resulting dosimeter

In radiotherapy dosimetry these problems areusually avoided by doing the measurements in aphantom, letting it comprise most of the dosimeterswall thickness



For electron beams of kinetic energy T(MeV), the

corresponding equation for estimating energydependence in terms of the dose to water,

normalized to T= 1 MeV, is

,

,waterwater

,

water 1 MeV ,water 1 MeV

/

/

/

/

c g

cT T

c g

c

dT dxr

dT dxD

dT dxr

D dT dx


therapy: absorbed dose This approximation assumes that:

1. CPE exists for-rays entering and leaving the sensitive

volume

2. The incident electrons lose only a very small fraction of

their energy in traversing the dosimeter

3. Electron scattering is the same ingas in water

4. The reading per unit dose to the dosimeters sensitive

volume remains energy-independent (LET-independent)

Items 1 and 3 are suspect, while 2 and 4 are easily satisfied in

the energy region above 1 MeV



Electron-energy dependence estimated for LiF, a bone-equivalentdosimeter, and an air-filled ion chamber, in terms of response per

unit absorbed dose in water, normalized to T= 1 MeV Neither LiF nor a bone-equivalent dosimeter shows much

dependence since collision stopping-power ratios are insensitive toelectron energy unless the polarization effect is involved

Energy dependence

Dependence of the dosimeter reading per unit of absorbeddose to the material in the sensitive volume itself, on theradiation energy or beam quality

The most fundamental as it reflects the dosimeters energyefficiency, i.e., the ability of the dosimeter to give the samereading for the same amount of absorbed energy in its ownsensitive volume, regardless of radiation type or quality

It is often called LET dependence because it usuallymanifests itself as a change in the reading per unit dose asa function of charged-particle track density, due to ionicrecombination or other second-order effects that depend onthe proximity of radiation products to the dosimeter

Miscellany

The configuration of a dosimeter sometimes iscrucial to its use; for example, small size of adosimeter is of primary importance in itsapplication in vivo in patients or test animals

A dosimeter needs a relevant calibration that isappropriate to the radiation type and quality, aswell as to the quantity to be measured

The reusability of a dosimeter has severalimportant implications: reusable TLDs can beindividually calibrated; single-use dosimeters suchas film badges cannot


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Summary

General dosimeter model

Interpretation of dosimeter measurements

Photons and neutrons

Charged particles

General characteristics of dosimeters: absoluteness,precision and accuracy, dose range, dose rate range,stability, energy dependence, and others

F

max

0,

T

xc

xdT

dx

dTTD

CPEen

en

/for photons

/

xx w

w

D D

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RDII - Chapter 11 Handout