Characterization of long-term dose stability of N-isopropylacrylamide polymer gel dosimetry

Feasibility evaluation of N-Isopropyl Acrylamide 3D gel dosimeters for proton therapy

This study aimed to investigate the feasibility of applying 3D gel dosimeters for proton therapy. Two different formulations (5-5-3-5, 5-3-3-10) for the N-Isopropyl Acrylamide (NIPAM) polymer gel were used to find the best composition for the application of NIPAM polymer gels for proton therapy. The reaction of the gel under different physical conditions, including dependence on energy and dependence on the dose rate of the NIPAM gel under proton irradiation, was also explored. A NIPAM gel dosimeter was used to record the 3D dose distribution, and a self-developed parallel beam optical computed tomography scanner was used to obtain non-irradiated and post-irradiated gel phantom images. The NIPAM gel was filled into a cylindrical acrylic phantom. The results showed that the optical density of the irradiated NIPAM dosimeter was linear in the dose range of 0 to 6 Gy, and the linearity of the two NIPAM gel formulations at the depth of the dose point (2 cm) was 0.98 to 0.89. The dose depth curves showed different patterns with different gel sensitivities. This study demonstrated that the NIPAM gel dosimeter with the 5-3-3-10 formulation is suitable for verifying the dosimetry dose of proton beams.

Technical Note: Radiotherapy dose characterization of gel dosimetry using shear wave elasticity imaging

PURPOSE

Radiotherapy is an effective treatment for many types of cancer in clinical settings. Gel dosimetry has the potential to record three-dimensional (3D) dose distribution compared to a conventional ion chamber. As the elasticity of the gel is altered after irradiation due to gel polymerization, we aim to measure the dose recorded in gel dosimetry with ultrasonic shear wave elasticity imaging (SWEI), a nondestructive and quantitative elasticity imaging tool.

METHODS

In this study, a cylindrical N-isopropylacrylamide (NIPAM) polymer gel with a diameter of 10 cm and a height of 10 cm and with cellulose as an ultrasonic scatterer was irradiated by a linear accelerator with the irradiation parameters of 6 MV x-ray, dose rate of 100 cGy/min and field size of 10  ×  20 mm² . The six gel phantoms were irradiated with the dose of 0, 1, 3, 5, 8, or 10 Gy. The gel phantoms were measured with SWEI at 24, 36, and 48 h after x-ray irradiation. The two-dimensional (2D) shear wave velocity and Young's modulus maps corresponding to x-ray dose distribution were reconstructed following a time-of-flight reconstruction from a set of time-series displacement maps. The spatial resolution of the reconstructed SWEI image is ~1 mm.

RESULTS

Our results show that the elastic modulus increases linearly as irradiation dose increases (R²  = 0.94 at 24 h, R²  = 0.98 at 36 h, R²  = 0.98 at 48 h), suggesting that the gel elasticity is highly associated with x-ray irradiation dose at 36 h post irradiation, and the dose resolution was 0.66 kPa/Gy. From the 3D elastic modulus maps, the dose distribution along the depth and lateral direction can be reflected in the NIPAM gel dosimetry using SWEI as well.

CONCLUSIONS

In this study, the irradiated NIPAM gel phantom was quantitatively measured with SWEI for the first time to read the dose distribution recorded in the gel dosimetry. The results suggest that the gel elasticity is highly associated with x-ray irradiation dose. In the future, 2D/or 3D dose distribution from intensity modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) or other potential particle radiotherapy will be measured and reconstructed with SWEI and compared with the dose map from a treatment planning system (TPS) in the clinic.

Three-dimensional dose comparison of flattening filter (FF) and flattening filter-free (FFF) radiation therapy by using NIPAM gel dosimetry

Intensity-modulated radiotherapy and volumetric modulated arc therapy are modern radiation therapy technologies that can create the desired dose distribution by multileaf collimator movement and dose-rate control. However, the homogeneous dose delivery of small-field irradiation techniques shows disagreement with that of treatment planning system. The removal of the flattening filter by flattening filter free (FFF) beam irradiation increases dose conformity and further reduces treatment delivery time in radiosurgery. This study aims to investigate the dose distribution of FFF and flattened beams for small-field irradiation by using the 3D gel dosimeter. The N-isopropylacrylamide (NIPAM) polymer gel dosimeter was employed to record the 3D dose distribution. In addition, flattened and FFF beams were compared using the gamma evaluation technique. The use of an FFF accelerator resulted in excellent radiation treatments with short delivery times and low doses to normal tissues and organs. Results also showed that the passing rate increased with the decrease of field size (30 × 30, 20 × 20, and 10 × 10 mm²) at post-irradiation times of 24, 48, 72, and 96 h. The passing rates for each field size were retained at the same level when gamma criteria, namely, distance-to-agreement (DTA) = 3 mm/dose difference (DD) = 3%, were used. Nevertheless, the passing rates for each field size decreased slowly after 48 h when DTA = 2 mm/DD = 2%. The Wilcoxon signed-rank test was used to determine statistical difference with a significant level of p < 0.05. The passing rates of flattened and FFF beams showed no significant difference. The edge enhancement effect in the flattened beam was more evident than in the FFF beam. The 3D NIPAM gel dosimeter can be used for dose verification of small field for radiation therapy with high dose rate.

Image reconstruction of optical computed tomography by using the algebraic reconstruction technique for dose readouts of polymer gel dosimeters

Optical computed tomography (optical CT) has been proven to be a useful tool for dose readouts of polymer gel dosimeters. In this study, the algebraic reconstruction technique (ART) for image reconstruction of gel dosimeters was used to improve the image quality of optical CT. Cylindrical phantoms filled with N-isopropyl-acrylamide polymer gels were irradiated using a medical linear accelerator. A circular dose distribution and a hexagonal dose distribution were produced by applying the VMAT technique and the six-field dose delivery, respectively. The phantoms were scanned using optical CT, and the images were reconstructed using the filtered back-projection (FBP) algorithm and the ART. For the circular dose distribution, the ART successfully reduced the ring artifacts and noise in the reconstructed image. For the hexagonal dose distribution, the ART reduced the hot spots at the entrances of the beams and increased the dose uniformity in the central region. Within 50% isodose line, the gamma pass rates for the 2 mm/3% criteria for the ART and FBP were 99.2% and 88.1%, respectively. The ART could be used for the reconstruction of optical CT images to improve image quality and provide accurate dose conversion for polymer gel dosimeters.