Polymer gel dosimetry using x-ray computed tomography: a feasibility study.

A new three-dimensional dosimetry technique using x-ray computed tomography (CT) to analyse polymer gels is proposed. The CT imaging is sensitive to radiation-induced density changes that occur within irradiated polyacrylamide gel (PAG). In this preliminary study, a CT imaging protocol is developed to optimize CT images of PAG; the response of PAG CT number to dose (N(CT)-dose response) and the reproducibility of the response are investigated, and the use of CT to analyse PAG is compared with MRI. Experiments were conducted using two 1.5 l cylindrical PAG phantoms (3% acrylamide, 3% bis and 5% gelatin by weight), one irradiated with four intersecting 10 MV photon beams and the other with 10 sets of 6 MV parallel opposed circular radiosurgery fields. The final imaging protocol involves using optimum CT parameters (120 kVp and 200 mAs for our GE HiSpeed CT/i scanner), image averaging and background subtraction. The N(CT)-dose response is reproducible, linear up to 800-1000 cGy and is relatively insensitive to the gel temperature during imaging. The dose resolution is approximately 50 cGy for an image thickness of 10 mm. Despite the low dose resolution, preliminary results indicate that this CT technique provides accurate localization of high dose gradients such as those observed in stereotactic radiosurgery. Thus, given the availability and speed of CT scanners, the technique has the potential to be a valuable and practical 3D dose verification tool in radiation therapy.