This article presents an overview of the recent developments and requirements in radiotherapy dosimetry, with particular emphasis on the development of optical fibre dosemeters for radiotherapy applications, focusing particularly on in vivo applications. Optical fibres offer considerable advantages over conventional techniques for radiotherapy dosimetry, owing to their small size, immunity to electromagnetic interferences, and suitability for remote monitoring and multiplexing. The small dimensions of optical fibre-based dosemeters, together with being lightweight and flexible, mean that they are minimally invasive and thus particularly suited to in vivo dosimetry. This means that the sensor can be placed directly inside a patient, for example, for brachytherapy treatments, the optical fibres could be placed in the tumour itself or into nearby critical tissues requiring monitoring, via the same applicators or needles used for the treatment delivery thereby providing real-time dosimetric information. The article outlines the principal sensor design systems along with some of the main strengths and weaknesses associated with the development of these techniques. The successful demonstration of these sensors in a range of different clinical environments is also presented.
PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to provide a detailed review of radiation dosimetry techniques based on optical fibre dosimeters. It presents a comprehensive bibliography of the current research activities in the area.Design/methodology/approachA range of published work on optical fibre radiation dosimeters are presented, with the merits and limitations discussed. Each radiation dosimetry technique is discussed in turn, providing examples of dosimeters using such techniques reviewed. The main focus is on gamma radiation although other radiation dosimeters are considered.FindingsThis paper provides information on the wide range of research activity into radiation dosimeters. The dose ranges of these dosimeters are presented, along with the advantages and disadvantages of different dosimetry techniques.Originality/valueA comprehensive review of published research in the area of solid radiation dosimetry is presented in this paper. It provides an individual with a review of the various techniques used and most recent research in that field.
This paper presents the implementation of power fluctuation compensation for an intensity-based optical fibre bending sensor aimed at monitoring human spine bending in a clinical environment. To compensate for the light intensity changes from the sensor light source, a reference signal was provided via the light reflection from an aluminum foil surface fixed at a certain distance from the source fibre end tips. From the results, it was found that the investigated sensor compensation technique was capable of achieving a 2° resolution for a bending angle working range between 0° and 20°. The study also suggested that the output voltage ratio has a 0.55% diversion due to input voltage variation between 2.9 V and 3.4 V and a 0.25% output drift for a 2 h measurement. With the achieved sensor properties, human spine monitoring in a clinical environment can potentially be implemented using this approach with power fluctuation compensation.
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