title: Linear accelerator calibration monitor with a memory.
abstract: A calibration monitor has been designed for measuring the constancy of linear accelerator or cobalt unit output between full calibrations. This monitor is battery operated, light-weight and slides into the shadow tray attachment on a linear accelerator or cobalt unit for easy setup. It provides a digital readout of the dose delivered, and a consistency check can be made in less than two minutes. The precision of the monitor, determined by cobalt-60 irradiations over a 2 1/2 period, is +/- 0.6% (standard deviation). The monitor also retains the dose reading in a CMOS digital counter indefinitely, hence it can be used in the same fashion as mailed thermoluminescent dosimeters (TLD) for calibration checks at remote facilities without the complicated readout procedures associated with TLD. The monitor can be mailed to a remote facility, positioned without ambiguity, and irradiated; and the reading can be verified on return to the originating center simply by pressing a switch. The monitor can easily be set up to carry out a "blind" check in which the reading obtained is not known to the remote facility.
mesh_terms: D002138:Calibration; D010315:Particle Accelerators / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000592:standards*; D011879:Radiotherapy Dosage / Q000592:standards; D011882:Radiotherapy, High-Energy / Q000295:instrumentation*