| ORIGINAL ARTICLE |
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| Year : 2016 | Volume
: 41
| Issue : 3 | Page : 169-176 |
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Gamma Putty dosimetric studies in electron beam
Aime M Gloi
Department of Radiation Onclogy, HSHS St. Vincent Hospital, Green Bay, WI, USA
Correspondence Address:
Aime M Gloi
830 South Van Buren Street, Green Bay, WI 54307 3508
USA
 Source of Support: None, Conflict of Interest: None  | Check |
DOI: 10.4103/0971-6203.189480
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Traditionally, lead has been used for field shaping in megavoltage electron beams in radiation therapy. In this study, we analyze the dosimetric parameters of a nontoxic, high atomic number (Z = 83), bismuth-loaded material called Gamma Putty that is malleable and can be easily molded to any desired shape. First, we placed an ionization chamber at different depths in a solid water phantom under a Gamma Putty shield of thickness (t = 0, 3, 5, 10, 15, 20, and 25 mm, respectively) and measured the ionizing radiation on the central axis (CAX) for electron beam ranging in energies from 6 to 20 MeV. Next, we investigated the relationship between the relative ionization (RI) measured at a fixed depth for several Gamma Putty shield at different cutout diameters ranging from 2 to 5 cm for various beam energies and derived an exponential fitting equation for clinical purposes. The dose profiles along the CAX show that bremsstrahlung dominates for Gamma Putty thickness >15 mm. For high-energy beams (12-20 MeV) and all Gamma Putty thicknesses up to 25 mm, RI below 5% could not be achieved due to the strong bremsstrahlung component. However, Gamma Putty is a very suitable material for reducing the transmission factor below 5% and protecting underlying normal tissues for low-energy electron beams (6-9 MeV). |
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