Development of a high-precision xyz-measuring table for the determination of the 3D dose rate distributions of brachytherapy sources.

An xyz-measuring table with a modular design has been developed for the determination of the individual 3D dose rate distributions of different brachytherapy sources requiring a high spatial resolution and reproducibility. The instrumental setup consists of a plastic scintillator detector system and the xyz-measuring table for guiding the detector across the radioactive sources. For this purpose, a micro positioning system with piezo inertial drives is chosen, providing a step width of 450 nm. To ensure a high reproducibility and accuracy better than 1 μm, an exposed linear encoder controls the positioning. The successful operation of the xyz-measuring table is exemplarily shown by measurements of dose profiles of two brachytherapy sources, an ophthalmic plaque and a radioactive seed. The setup allows a fully automated quality assurance of ophthalmic plaques and radioactive seeds under clinical conditions and can be extended to other (brachytherapy) sources of similar dimensions.