Water equivalent plastic scintillation detectors in radiation therapy.

A review of the dosimetric characteristics and properties of plastic scintillation detectors for use in radiation therapy is presented. The detectors show many desirable qualities when exposed to megavoltage photon and electron beams, including water equivalence, energy independence, reproducibility, dose linearity, resistance to radiation damage and near temperature independence. These detectors do not require the usual conversion and/or correction factors used to convert the readings from common dosemeters to absorbed dose. Due to their small detecting volume, plastic scintillation detectors exhibit excellent spatial resolution. Detector performance, in certain specific cases, can be affected by radiation-induced light arising in the optical fibres that carry the scintillator signal to a photodetector. While this effect is negligible for photon beams, it may not be ignored for electron beams and needs to be accounted for.