title: Induced radioisotopes in a linac treatment hall.
abstract: When linacs operate above 8MV an undesirable neutron field is produced whose spectrum has three main components: the direct spectrum due to those neutrons leaking out from the linac head, the scattered spectrum due to neutrons produced in the head that collides with the nuclei in the head losing energy and the third spectrum due to room-return effect. The third category of spectrum has mainly epithermal and thermal neutrons being constant at any location in the treatment hall. These neutrons induce activation in the linac components, the concrete walls and in the patient body. Here the induced radioisotopes have been identified in concrete samples located in the hall and in one of the wedges. The identification has been carried out using a gamma-ray spectrometer.
authors.affiliation: Unidad Académica de Estudios Nucleares de la Universidad Autonoma de Zacatecas, C. Cipres 10, Fracc. La Peñuela, 98060 Zacatecas, Zacatecas, Mexico. Electronic address: fermineutron@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Héctor René
authors.initials: HR
authors.lastname: Vega-Carrillo
authors.affiliation: Unidad Académica de Estudios Nucleares de la Universidad Autonoma de Zacatecas, C. Cipres 10, Fracc. La Peñuela, 98060 Zacatecas, Zacatecas, Mexico; Instituto Tecnológico de Aguascalientes, Av. Adolfo López Mateos #1801 Ote. Fracc. Bona Gens., 20255 Aguascalientes, Mexico.
authors.forename: Héctor Asael
authors.initials: HA
authors.lastname: de Leon-Martinez
authors.affiliation: Unidad Académica de Estudios Nucleares de la Universidad Autonoma de Zacatecas, C. Cipres 10, Fracc. La Peñuela, 98060 Zacatecas, Zacatecas, Mexico.
authors.forename: Esteban
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Rivera-Perez
authors.affiliation: Centro de Cancerología de Nayarit, Calzada de la Cruz 118 Sur, 63000 Tepic, Nayarit, Mexico.
authors.forename: Jorge
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Luis Benites-Rengifo
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Ingeniería Nuclear de la Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, C. José Gutiérrez Abascal 2, 28006 Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: Eduardo
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Gallego
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Ingeniería Nuclear de la Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, C. José Gutiérrez Abascal 2, 28006 Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: Alfredo
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Lorente
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000532:radiotherapy*; D010315:Particle Accelerators; D011868:Radioisotopes / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000627:therapeutic use
chemical_list: D011868:Radioisotopes
keywords: Activation; Gamma-rays; Linac; Neutron