Toward 3D dosimetry of intensity modulated radiation therapy treatments with plastic scintillation detectors

Abstract

In this work, we present a novel two Dimensional Plastic Scintillation Detector (2D-PSD) array designed to measure dose distributions generated by high energy photon beams from medical linear accelerators. This study aim to demonstrate that the dose distribution in the irradiated volume is not modified by the presence of several hundred plastic scintillation detectors (PSDs). The 2D-PSD consists of 781 PSDs inserted in a plastic water slab. The dose distributions measured with the 2D-PSD were compared to calculations from a treatment planning system (Pinnacle3, Philips Medical Systems) and with measurements taken with an ionization chambers array (MatriXX Evolution, IBA Dosimetry). Furthermore, a clinical head and neck IMRT plan was delivered on the 2D-PSD. A good agreement is obtained between the measured and planned dose distributions. The results show that the 2D arrangement presented in this work is water equivalent and transparent to x-ray radiation. As a consequence, our design could be extended to multiple detection planes, opening the possibility for 3D dosimetry with PSDs. © 2010 IOP Publishing Ltd.