Development of a thin-layer scintillation-based dosimeter for surface dose measurement in radiotherapy

Le résumé fourni par la source

Abstract Non-melanoma skin cancers (NMSCs) account for nearly 96% of all diagnosed skin cancers worldwide and are often treated surgically. However, when surgery is not feasible, radiotherapy is a valid alternative treatment. In radiotherapy, patient-specific quality assurance (PSQA) relies on dose distribution measurements. Current state-of-art technologies do not allow accurate measurements of the dose deposited in the superficial layers of the skin. The first few millimeters of skin are especially sensitive to ionizing radiation, and an accurate characterization of the dose distribution at low depths is essential to minimize adverse effects and optimize treatment efficacy. To address this issue, medical physicists commonly use a bolus , a semi-rigid tissue-equivalent material placed over the tumor. However, as the tumor shrinks during treatment, air gaps may form between the bolus and the skin, leading to underdosage of the target volume. To overcome this limitation, a prototype detector (DQX) was designed and tested at LPCC (Laboratoire de Physique Corpusculaire de Caen) and CFB (Centre François Baclesse). The device is based on a 100 μm-thick plastic scintillator coupled to wavelength-shifting fibers and is intended to measure radiation doses in superficial tissue layers, from 70 μm below the skin surface, with a relative measurement error below 1% for a 2 Gy photon dose. This proceeding presents an overview of the studies conducted on the DQX prototype, including the detector design, experimental setup, preliminary results, performance evaluation, limitations and perspectives for future development.

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