Radiotherapy gel dosimetry: a review

Radiation therapy or radiotherapy is a common form of cancer treatment. Recent advances in radiotherapy such as intensity modulated radiation therapy indicate that treatment outcomes may be improved. The principle limitation of these more advanced techniques of radiation therapy is the ability to quantify the absorbed radiation dose to the tumour which is related to the 3- dimensional geometry of the tumour. The main advances in 3-dimensional radiation dosimetry are the development of radiation sensitive polymer gel dosimeters. The use of radiation sensitive gels for radiation dosimetry in cancer therapy was first suggested in the 1950s. It was subsequently shown in 1984 that radiation induced changes in nuclear magnetic resonance relaxation properties of gels infused with conventional Fricke dosimetry solutions could be measured. Due to diffusion-related limitations in the use of Fricke gels, alternative polymer gel dosimeters were subsequently suggested in 1992. Since then, both magnetic resonance and optical imaging techniques have been used to evaluate polymer gel dosimeters to produce three-dimensional radiation dose distributions. More recently the uses of x-ray computer tomography and vibrational spectroscopy have also been demonstrated as valuable techniques in the evaluation of these dosimetry gels. Although not yet used routinely clinically, applications of these radiologically soft-tissue equivalent gel dosimeters have been shown to have great potential in the evaluation of complex radiation dose distributions. A review of 3-dimensional radiotherapy gel dosimetry is presented