title: Electron scattering filter design for a single field rotational total skin irradiation.
abstract: The aim of radiotherapy treatment of cutaneous T-cell lymphoma is to irradiate the skin with an appropriately homogeneous dose distribution up to a few millimetres in depth. This can be achieved by applying one of the total skin electron irradiation techniques. An aluminium/polystyrene foam electron scattering filter was designed so that the incident beam is broadened and degraded sufficiently to achieve a mean dose uniformity in a rectangular field of 180 cm height and 40 cm width. This paper reports on the development and construction of the electron scattering filter for use with a Varian 2100C accelerator, without MLCs, with a dose uniformity, over a useful field dimension of 180 cm height and 40 cm width, of +/- 7% about the mean, and an x-ray contamination of less than 2.4% beyond a depth of 3 cm.
authors.affiliation: Physical Sciences Department, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, Melbourne, Australia. ypham@bccancer.bc.ca
authors.forename: Y T
authors.initials: YT
authors.lastname: Pham
authors.forename: I F
authors.initials: IF
authors.lastname: Bubb
authors.forename: J A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Cramb
mesh_terms: D004583:Electrons / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D004867:Equipment Design; D019544:Equipment Failure Analysis; D005374:Filtration / Q000295:instrumentation*; D006801:Humans; D010315:Particle Accelerators / Q000295:instrumentation*; D020266:Radiotherapy, Conformal / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods; D012399:Rotation; D012542:Scattering, Radiation; D012878:Skin Neoplasms / Q000532:radiotherapy*