Spatial distributions of environmenral radiations at medical linac undergoing treatment of VMAT using Taguchi method

Abstract

This study monitors environmental radiation using a thermoluminescent dosimeter (TLD) in the treatment vault of Axesse (Elekta 2538) linear accelerator. The TLD system was optimized for initial temperature, heat rate, and maximum set temperature using the Taguchi method. The half value layer was determined. Minimum detectable dose using this optimized TLD method was also identified.

TLD environmental monitoring of new scanner facilities at the Nuclear Medicine Department of the Taiwan Medical University Hospital

“…Nuclear medicine could be widely used in applications for a variety of diagnostic tests and disease treatments, and its use has increased dramatically over the past decade [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9]. The Nuclear Medicine Department (NM) of Chung Shan Medical University Hospital (CSMUH) at Taichung designed two scanners: The new Single Photon Emission computed tomography, SPECT, 670 DR, Discovery, and the dual energy X-ray absorptiometry, DXA scanner, Hologic, Discovery, and were operated in July 2018.…”

“…The target made of tungsten, iron of these scanners emit substantial X-ray emissions, and the public and patient are therefore exposed to extra radiation within these facilities, although in a much lower dose than environmental background radiation. However, this exposure cannot be ignored for health reasons [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10]. Furthermore, following administration of radiopharmaceuticals, patients become radioactive sources.…”

Evaluating environmental radiations of the tomotherapy facility by optimizing full factorial design of the TLD technique

“…In the last 40 years, the number of deaths due to cancer has been the highest in Taiwan [1]. Highenergy radiations were generated by linear accelerator (linac), exposing staff and patients to undesirable radiations due to gantry head leakage during operations [2][3][4][5][6]. These radiations do not belong to routine 27/01/2022; 13:30…”

“…A detailed survey is important to evaluate the extra radiations spread within this facility. Many published studies consider the thermoluminescent dosimeter (TLD) as one of the most effective approaches in dramatic radiations [3][4][5][6][7][8][9].…”

“…In addition, a well-designed TLD readout system calculates specific doses with good reliability. It can be used ranging from 10 3 to 10 −1 mSv/mo of environmental radiations of the tomotherapy (TOMO) facility (Hi-Art Tomotherapy, Inc, Madison, WI, USA) [3,14,15]. Sadeghi et al stated that the storage temperature, readout time, maximum temperature of readout, heating rate, preheat time, preheat temperature, exposure to readout time, annealing to exposure time, annealing time, and annealing temperature were important factors of FFD in the Harshaw reader of the TLD approach [9].…”