title: The small-animal radiation research platform (SARRP): dosimetry of a focused lens system.
abstract: A small animal radiation platform equipped with on-board cone-beam CT and conformal irradiation capabilities is being constructed for translational research. To achieve highly localized dose delivery, an x-ray lens is used to focus the broad beam from a 225 kVp x-ray tube down to a beam with a full width half maximum (FWHM) of approximately 1.5 mm in the energy range 40-80 keV. Here, we report on the dosimetric characteristics of the focused beam from the x-ray lens subsystem for high-resolution dose delivery. Using the metric of the average dose within a 1.5 mm diameter area, the dose rates at a source-to-surface distance (SSD) of 34 cm are 259 and 172 cGy min(-1) at 6 mm and 2 cm depths, respectively, with an estimated uncertainty of +/-5%. The per cent depth dose is approximately 56% at 2 cm depth for a beam at 34 cm SSD.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiation Oncology and Molecular Radiation Sciences, Johns Hopkins Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA. hdeng2@jhmi.edu
authors.forename: Hua
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Deng
authors.forename: Christopher W
authors.initials: CW
authors.lastname: Kennedy
authors.forename: Elwood
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Armour
authors.forename: Erik
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Tryggestad
authors.forename: Eric
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Ford
authors.forename: Todd
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: McNutt
authors.forename: Licai
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wong
mesh_terms: D032761:Animal Experimentation; D000818:Animals; D004867:Equipment Design / Q000295:instrumentation; D051379:Mice; D011827:Radiation; D011829:Radiation Dosage; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed / Q000295:instrumentation; D014965:X-Rays