title: Feasibility of a semiconductor dosimeter to monitor skin dose in interventional radiology.
abstract: The design and preliminary test results of a semiconductor silicon dosimeter are presented in this article. Use of this dosimeter is foreseen for real-time skin dose control in interventional radiology. The strong energy dependence of this kind of radiation detector is well overcome by filtering the silicon diode. Here, the optimal filter features have been calculated by numerical Monte Carlo simulations. A prototype has been built and tested in a radiological facility. The first experimental results show a good match between the filtered semiconductor diode response and an ionization chamber response, within 2% fluctuation in a 2.2 to 4.1 mm Al half-value layer (HVL) energy range. Moreover, the semiconductor sensor response is linear from 0.02 Gy/min to at least 6.5 Gy/min, covering the whole dose rate range found in interventional radiology. The results show that a semiconductor dosimeter could be used to monitor skin dose during the majority of procedures using x-rays below 150 keV. The use of this device may assist in avoiding radiation-induced skin injuries and lower radiation levels during interventional procedures.
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire PHASE/CNRS, Strasbourg, France. meyer@phase.c-strasbourg.fr
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Meyer
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Regal
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Jung
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Siffert
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Mertz
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Constantinesco
mesh_terms: D000388:Air; D003198:Computer Simulation; D004307:Dose-Response Relationship, Radiation; D009010:Monte Carlo Method; D019047:Phantoms, Imaging; D011834:Radiation Monitoring; D011874:Radiometry / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012666:Semiconductors; D012825:Silicon; D012867:Skin / Q000528:radiation effects*; D014965:X-Rays
chemical_list: D012825:Silicon