title: Evaluation of a real-time BeO ceramic fiber-coupled luminescence dosimetry system for dose verification of high dose rate brachytherapy.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The authors evaluate the capability of a beryllium oxide (BeO) ceramic fiber-coupled luminescence dosimeter, named radioluminescence/optically stimulated luminescence (RL/OSL) BeO FOD, for dosimetric verification of high dose rate (HDR) treatments. The RL/OSL BeO FOD is capable of RL and OSL measurements.
  
  
  METHODS
  The RL/OSL BeO FOD is able to be inserted in 6F proguide needles, used in interstitial HDR treatments. Using a custom built Perspex phantom, 6F proguide needles could be submerged in a water tank at 1 cm separations from each other. A second background fiber was required to correct for the stem effect. The stem effect, dose linearity, reproducibility, depth-dose curves, and angular and temperature dependency of the RL/OSL BeO FOD were characterised using an Ir-192 source. The RL/OSL BeO FOD was also applied to the commissioning of a 10 mm horizontal Leipzig applicator.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Both the RL and OSL were found to be reproducible and their percentage depth-dose curves to be in good agreement with those predicted via TG-43. A combined uncertainty of 7.9% and 10.1% (k=1) was estimated for the RL and OSL, respectively. For the 10 mm horizontal Leipzig applicator, measured percentage depth doses were within 5% agreement of the published reference calculations. The output at the 3 mm prescription depth for a 1 Gy delivery was verified to be 0.99±0.08 Gy and 1.01±0.10 Gy by the RL and OSL, respectively.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The use of the second background fiber under the current setup means that the two fibers cannot fit into a single 6F needle. Hence, use of the RL is currently not adequate for the purpose of in vivo brachytherapy dosimetry. While not real-time, the OSL is shown to be adequate for in vivo brachytherapy dosimetry.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Physics, Royal Adelaide Hospital, Adelaide 5000, Australia and Institute for Photonics and Advanced Sensing, School of Physical Sciences, University of Adelaide, Adelaide 5005, Australia.
authors.forename: Alexandre M Caraça
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Santos
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Physics, Royal Adelaide Hospital, Adelaide 5000, Australia and Department of Medical Physics, Faculty of Medicine, Hamadan University of Medical Sciences, Hamadan 65167-3-8736, Iran.
authors.forename: Mohammad
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mohammadi
authors.affiliation: Laser Physics and Photonic Devices Laboratories, School of Engineering, The University of South Australia, Adelaide 5095, Australia and Institute for Photonics and Advanced Sensing, School of Physical Sciences, University of Adelaide, Adelaide 5005, Australia.
authors.forename: Shahraam
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Afshar V
mesh_terms: D001608:Beryllium / Q000737:chemistry / Q000528:radiation effects*; D001918:Brachytherapy / Q000295:instrumentation*; D002516:Ceramics / Q000737:chemistry / Q000528:radiation effects*; D003199:Computer Systems; D019583:Dose Fractionation, Radiation; D004867:Equipment Design; D019544:Equipment Failure Analysis; D005336:Fiber Optic Technology / Q000295:instrumentation*; D008163:Luminescent Measurements / Q000295:instrumentation; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D013819:Thermoluminescent Dosimetry / Q000295:instrumentation*
chemical_list: C032777:beryllium oxide; D001608:Beryllium