Temperature dependence of BCF plastic scintillation detectors

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The availability of real-time treatment verification during high-dose-rate (HDR) brachytherapy is currently limited. Therefore, we studied the luminescence properties of the widely commercially available scintillators using the inorganic materials Eu-activated phosphors Y2O3:Eu, YVO4:Eu, Y2O2S:Eu, and Gd2O2S:Eu to determine whether they could be used to accurately and precisely verify HDR brachytherapy doses in real time. The suitability for HDR brachytherapy of inorganic scintillation detectors (ISDs) based on the 4 Eu-activated phosphors in powder form was determined based on experiments with a 192Ir HDR brachytherapy source. The scintillation intensities of the phosphors were 16 to 134 times greater than that of the commonly used organic plastic scintillator BCF-12. High signal intensities were achieved with an optimized packing density of the phosphor mixture and with a shortened fiber-optic cable. The influence of contaminating Cerenkov and fluorescence light induced in the fiber-optic cable (stem signal) was adequately suppressed by inserting between the fiber-optic cable and the photodetector a 25-nm band-pass filter centered at the emission peak. The spurious photoluminescence signal induced by the stem signal was suppressed by placing a long-pass filter between the scintillation detector volume and the fiber-optic cable. The time-dependent luminescence properties of the phosphors were quantified by measuring the non-constant scintillation during irradiation and the afterglow after the brachytherapy source had retracted. We demonstrated that a mixture of Y2O3:Eu and YVO4:Eu suppressed the time-dependence of the ISDs and that the time-dependence of Y2O2S:Eu and Gd2O2S:Eu introduced large measurement inaccuracies. We conclude that ISDs based on a mixture of Y2O3:Eu and YVO4:Eu are promising candidates for accurate and precise real-time verification technology for HDR BT that is cost effective and straightforward to manufacture. Widespread dissemination of this technology could lead to an improved understanding of error types and frequencies during BT and to improved patient safety during treatment.

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 96%

Inorganic scintillation detectors based on Eu-activated phosphors for¹⁹²Ir brachytherapy

Kertzscher

Beddar

2017

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“…For instance, their small size allows them to be placed inside narrow BT catheters inserted in the tumor region, and real-time monitoring of the detector response facilitates online error detection. The response of ISDs to absorbed dose in water is, in contrast to that of PSDs, dependent on the photon energy spectrum (Rogers 2009), while both ISD and PSD responses exhibit temperature dependence (Edmund and Andersen 2007, Beddar 2012, Wootton and Beddar 2013, Buranurak et al 2013). However, the energy and temperature dependences can be corrected for with fairly straightforward methods (Wootton and Beddar 2013, Reniers et al 2012).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ruby-based inorganic scintillation detectors for¹⁹²Ir brachytherapy

Kertzscher

Beddar

2016

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We tested the potential of ruby inorganic scintillation detectors (ISDs) for use in brachytherapy and investigated various unwanted luminescence properties that may compromise their accuracy. The ISDs were composed of a ruby crystal coupled to a poly(methyl methacrylate) fiber-optic cable and a charge-coupled device camera. The ISD also included a long-pass filter that was sandwiched between the ruby crystal and the fiber-optic cable. The long-pass filter prevented the Cerenkov and fluorescence background light (stem signal) induced in the fiber-optic cable from striking the ruby crystal, which generates unwanted photoluminescence rather than the desired radioluminescence. The relative contributions of the radioluminescence signal and the stem signal were quantified by exposing the ruby detectors to a high-dose-rate brachytherapy source. The photoluminescence signal was quantified by irradiating the fiber-optic cable with the detector volume shielded. Other experiments addressed time-dependent luminescence properties and compared the ISDs to commonly used organic scintillator detectors (BCF-12, BCF-60). When the brachytherapy source dwelled 0.5 cm away from the fiber-optic cable, the unwanted photoluminescence was reduced from > 5% to < 1% of the total signal as long as the ISD incorporated the long-pass filter. The stem signal was suppressed with a band-pass filter and was < 3% as long as the source distance from the scintillator was < 7 cm. Some ruby crystals exhibited time-dependent luminescence properties that altered the ruby signal by > 5% within 10 s from the onset of irradiation and after the source had retracted. The ruby-based ISDs generated signals of up to 20 times that of BCF-12-based detectors. The study presents solutions to unwanted luminescence properties of ruby-based ISDs for high-dose-rate brachytherapy. An optic filter should be sandwiched between the ruby crystal and the fiber-optic cable to suppress the photoluminescence. Furthermore, we recommend avoiding ruby crystals that exhibit significant time-dependent luminescence.

“…Because the output of some plastic scintillation detectors is temperature dependent (Beddar, 2012) (Wootton and Beddar, 2013), the OARtrac system was designed to automatically compensate for temperature when processing data, by means of empirical correction factors that are based on a user-entered temperature. Accordingly, to improve dose measurement accuracy, room temperature was measured and entered into the manufacturer’s acquisition software before each PSD probe measurement was taken.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Preliminary evaluation of the dosimetric accuracy of thein vivoplastic scintillation detector OARtrac system for prostate cancer treatments

Klawikowski¹,

Zeringue²,

Wootton³

et al. 2014

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A promising, new, in vivo prostate dosimetry system has been developed for clinical radiation therapy. This work outlines the preliminary end-to-end testing of the accuracy and precision of the new OARtrac scintillation dosimetry system. We tested 94 calibrated plastic scintillation detector (PSD) probes before their final integration into endorectal balloon assemblies. These probes had been calibrated at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center Dosimetry Laboratory (MDADL). We used a complete clinical OARtrac system including the PSD probes, charge coupled device (CCD camera) monitoring system, and the manufacturer’s integrated software package. The PSD probes were irradiated at 6 MV in a Solid Water® phantom. Irradiations were performed with a 6 MV linear accelerator using anterior-posterior/posterior-anterior (AP/PA) matched fields to a maximum dose of 200 cGy in a 100 cm source-axis distance (SAD geometry. As a whole, the OARtrac system has good accuracy with a mean error of 0.01% and an error spread of ± 5.4% at the 95% confidence interval. These results reflect the PSD probes’ accuracy before their final insertion into endorectal balloons. Future work will test the dosimetric effects of mounting the PSD probes within the endorectal balloon assemblies.