Absorbed dose distribution visualization for superficial treatments through the Fricke Xylenol Gel dosimeter (FXG)

Abstract

Electrons, orthovoltage X-rays and betas are used for superficial treatments. It has been shown that it is practical to measure these three types of radiation using gel dosimetry, which is an accurate dosimetric tool, from which one can infer the absorbed dose. The Fricke Xylenol Gel (FXG) dosimeter has presented adequate results due to its spatial resolution, effective atomic number and density that are near to those of soft tissue. The aim of this work is to compare three types of radiation for skin treatments like orthovoltage (X-rays), brachytherapy (beta rays) and megavoltage (electrons) using the FXG-CCD dosimetric system to determine the calibration curves (CC), beam profiles (BP) and percentage depth dose curves (PDD), evidencing why for clinical applications a specific type of radiation is selected for superficial treatment. From the results obtained we can infer that the FXG-CCD system is adequate for linear, area and volume measurements. © 2010 IOP Publishing Ltd.