Comparison of Energy Dependence of PAGAT Polymer Gel Dosimeter with Electron and Photon Beams using Magnetic Resonance Imaging

The purpose of this study was to evaluate dependence of PAGAT polymer gel dosimeter 1/T2 on different electron and photon energies for a standard clinically used 60Co therapy unit and an electa linear accelerator.Using MRI, the formulation to give the maximum change in the transverse relaxation rate R2(1/T2) was determined to be 4.5% N,N'-methylen-bis-acrylamide(bis), 4.5% acrylamid(AA), 5% gelatine, 5 mM tetrakis (hydroxymethyl) phosphonium chloride (THPC), 0.01 mM hydroquinone (HQ) and 86% HPLC(Water). When the preparation of final polymer gel solution is completed, it is transferred into phantoms and allowed to set by storage in a refrigerator at about 4°C. The optimal post-manufacture irradiation and post imaging times were both determined to be 24 h. The sensitivity of PAGAT polymer gel dosimeter with irradiation of photon and electron beams was represented by the slope of calibration curve in the linear region measured for each modality. The response of PAGAT gel with photon and electron beams is very similar in the lower dose region. The R2-dose response was linear up to 30 Gy and the R2-dose response of the PAGAT polymer gel dosimeter is linear between 10 to 30 Gy. In electron beams the R2-dose response for doses less than 3 Gy is not exact, but in photon beams the R2-dose response for doses less than 2Gy is not exact. Dosimeter energy dependence was studied for electron energies of 4, 12 and 18MeV and photon energies of 1.25, 4, 6 and 18 MV. Evaluation of dosimeters were performed on Siemens Symphony, Germany 1.5T Scanner in the head coil. In this study no trend in polymer-gel dosimeter 1/T2 dependence was found on mean energy for electron and photon beams.