| 1. |
- Adolfsson, Emelie, 1985-
(författare)
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Lithium formate EPR dosimetry for accurate measurements of absorbed dose in radiotherapy
- 2014
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Lithium formate has shown to be a material with properties suitable for electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) dosimetry, among them up to 7 times higher sensitivity compared to alanine, which is a well-established EPR detector material for dose determinations in radiotherapy.The aim of this thesis was to further investigate the properties of lithium formate and develop the dosimetry system towards applications in radiotherapy. The intrinsic efficiency for energies of relevance to brachytherapy and the signal stability were investigated. The dosimetry system was expanded to include a smaller dosimeter model, suitable for measurements in dose gradient regions. An individual sensitivity correction method was applied to the smaller dosimeters to be able to perform dose determinations with the same precision as for the larger ones. EPR dosimetry in general is time consuming and effort was spent to optimize the signal readout procedure regarding measurement time and measurement precision.The system was applied in two clinical applications chosen for their high demands on the dosimetry system: 1) a dosimetry audit for external photon beam therapy and 2) dose verification measurements around a low energy HDR brachytherapy source.The conclusions drawn from this thesis were: dose determinations can be performed with a standard uncertainty of 1.8-2.5% using both the original size dosimeters and the new developed smaller ones. The dosimetry system is robust and useful for applications when high measurement precision and accuracy is prioritized. It is a good candidate for dosimetry audits, both in external beam therapy and brachytherapy.
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| 2. |
- Gustafsson, Håkan, 1976-
(författare)
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Development of sensitive EPR dosimetry methods
- 2008
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) dosimetry using the well established dosimeter material alanine is a generally accepted dosimetric method for measurements of high absorbed doses. Alanine EPR dosimetry is however not sensitive enough for high precision measurements of low (< 5 Gy) absorbed doses using reasonably measurement times and small dosimeters. It has therefore not been possible to fully exploit the benefits of EPR dosimetry for applications in radiation therapy.The aim of this thesis was to show that sensitive EPR dosimetry is a competitive method for applications in radiation therapy fulfilling the requirements of measurement precision. Our strategy for reaching this goal was to search for new, more sensitive, EPR dosimeter materials fulfilling the criteria of being tissue equivalent, having a high radical yield and having a narrow EPR spectrum suitable for dosimetry. The best materials were found among formates and dithionates. Doping with small amounts of metal ions and recrystallisation in D2O were tested to further increase the sensitivity. Four promising candidate materials were tested regarding radical stability and dose response and among them lithium formate was chosen for dosimetry in radiation therapy applications.A high precision EPR dosimetry method was developed using lithium formate. The method included the development of a production method for EPR dosimeters with very homogenous shape, mass and composition. A read-out process was developed with maximal measurement precision for reasonably short measurement times. The method also included a dosimeter quality control before actual dose measurements. Measurement accuracy was controlled for every new dosimeter batch.This high precision lithium formate EPR dosimetry method was evaluated for pretreatment verifications of intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) treatment plans. The precision and accuracy was shown to be sufficient (< 5 %) for measurements of doses above 1.5 Gy using one single dosimeter and a measurement time of 15 minutes. The described evaluation is therefore a demonstration of the improved precision at low dose determinations that is available with our sensitive EPR dosimeter materials.While the EPR signal intensity is proportional to absorbed dose, the signal shape is in some cases dependent on the radiation quality. A new method is presented for simultaneous measurements of beam LET (linear energy transfer) and absorbed dose in heavy charged particle beams using potassium dithionate EPR dosimetry. The study shows that when irradiating a dosimeter with 35 MeV carbon ions, the ratio of the signal amplitudes from two radicals in potassium dithionate vary along the track indicating a dependence on linear energy transfer, LET. Potassium dithionate may therefore be a promising EPR dosimeter material for simultaneous measurements of absorbed dose and LET in heavy charged particle radiation fields.
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| 3. |
- Israelsson, Axel
(författare)
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Chewing gum and human hair as retrospective dosimeters
- 2014
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Retrospective dosimeters are sometimes needed after radiological/nuclear (RN) exposures to determine the doses to individuals. Conventional dosimeters may not be at hand or may not be applicable calling for alternative materials.The possible exposure situations can be divided into external and internal; the radiation field stems either from outside the body or from a source within. This thesis investigates the possibility to use chewing gum and hair as retrospective dosimeters. The chewing gum would be used after an unexpected radiation event of external type whereas human hair is examined after chronic intake of uranium. Chewing gum containing xylitol and sorbitol was analyzed using electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) and the hair was analyzed by alphaspectrometry following radiochemistry and by synchrotron radiation microbeam x-ray fluorescence (SR μ-XRF).Xylitol and chewing gum (in this particular case, V6) are in the present work found to be valuable dosimeters after unexpected radiation events. The xylitol signal linearity with dose in the interval 0-10 Gy was confirmed (r2=1.00). The doses to the coating of the chewing gums were determined 4-6 days after irradiation with an uncertainty of less than 0.2 Gy (1 SD). Spectral dependence with time after exposure was found, but was, however, minimal between 4-8 days.Hair was evaluated and compared with urine as biodosimeter after ingestion and inhalation intake of uranium. Concentrations of 234U and 238U and their activity ratios were measured in the hair, urine and drinking water sampled from 24 drilled bedrock well water users in Östergötland, Sweden, as well as among 8 workers at a nuclear fuel fabrication factory, Westinghouse Electric Sweden. The results show that there is a stronger correlation between the uranium concentrations in the drinking water of the well water and the users’ hair (r2 = 0.50) than with their urine (r2 = 0.21). There is also a stronger correlation between the 234U/238U activity ratios of water and hair (r2 = 0.91) than between water and urine (r2 = 0.56). The individual absorbed fraction of uranium, the ƒ value, calculated as the ratio between the excreted amount of uranium in urine and hair per day and the daily drinking water intake of uranium stretched from 0.002 to 0.10 with a median of 0.023. The uranium concentrations of the fuel factory workers’ hair and urine were also obtained as well as that of personal air sampler (PAS) filters for the determination of inhaled uranium activity. A large day-to-day variation (7-70 Bq d-1) of the inhaled 234U activity was seen over a 6 week period. Over a 12 week period the 234U activity concentration in urine was similarly seen to vary from 2 to 50 mBq kg-1. Four hair samples from the same subject and period showed less variation (100-240 mBq g-1). The uranium inhalation to urine and hair factors finh,u and finh,h were found to be 0.0014 and 0.0002 respectively given by calculations based on the measured PAS, urine and hair data from two individuals. The SR μ-XRF measurements showed that uranium is present in an outer layer of the hair shaft, about 10-15 μm wide. The measurements also revealed particles containing uranium being present on the surface of unwashed hair shafts. However, the washed hair shafts showed few, if any, particles.This thesis concludes that chewing gum and hair can be used as retrospective dosimeters after external radiation and after intake of uranium respectively.
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| 4. |
- Lindström, Jan
(författare)
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Radioluminescence : A simple model for fluorescent layers - analysis and applications
- 2021
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- A phosphor or scintillator is a material that will emit visible light when struck by ionising radiation. In the early days of diagnostic radiology, it was discovered that the radiation dose needed to get an image on a film, could be greatly reduced by inserting a fluorescent layer of a phosphor in direct contact with the film. Thus, introducing the step of converting the ionising radiation to light in a first step. Going forward in time, film has been replaced with photodetectors and there is now a variety of imaging x-ray systems, still based on phosphors and scintillators. There is continuous research going on to optimise between the radiation dose needed and a sufficient image quality. These factors tend to be in opposition to each other. It is a complicated task to optimise these imaging system and new phosphor materials emerges regularly. One of the key factors is the efficiency of the conversion from xrays to light. In this work this is denoted “extrinsic efficiency”. It is important since it largely determines the final dose to the patient needed for the imaging task. Most imaging x-ray detectors are based on phosphor or scintillator types where their imaging performance has been improved through tweaking of various parameters (light guide structure, higher density, light emission spectrum matching to photodetectors, delayed fluorescence quenching etc) One key factor that largely determines the extrinsic efficiency of a specific phosphor is the particle size. Larger particles result in a higher luminance of the phosphor for the same radiation dose as does as a thicker phosphor layer (to a limit). There exists already a battery of models describing various phosphor qualities. However, particle size and thickness have not been treated as a fully independent variables in previous model works. Indirectly, the influence of these parameters is accounted for, but the existing models were either considered too general, containing several complex parameters and factors to cover all kind of cases or too highly specialised to be easily applicable to fluorescent detectors in diagnostic radiology. The aim of this thesis is therefore to describe and assess a simple model denoted the “LAC-model” (after the original authors Lindström and Alm Carlsson), developed for a fluorescent layer using individual sub-layers defined by the particle size diameter. The model is thought to be a tool for quickly evaluating various particle size and fluorescent layer thickness combinations for a chosen phosphor and design. It may also serve as a more intuitive description of the underlying parameters influencing the final extrinsic efficiency. Further tests affirmed the validity of the model through measurements. The LACmodel produced results deviating a maximum of +5 % from luminescence measurements. During the development of the model various assumptions and simplifications were made. One assumption was the absence of a so called “dead layer”. This is a layer supposedly surrounding each particle decreasing the efficiency of converting x-rays to light. It is not completely “dead” as in inactive but is thought to have a reduced efficiency. This phenomenon was struggled with, when historically designing electron beam stimulated phosphors for various applications (i.e. displays, TV tubes etc). There are also articles reporting dead layer influence for x-ray detectors (usually spectrometers i.e. not for imaging). By introducing a dead layer in the LAC-model the effect of the layer was investigated and was found to result in a change of less than 8% for the extrinsic efficiency. It was also noted that sometimes a dead layer effect may emerge at surfaces of a scintillator slab but not necessarily connected to the phosphor particles themselves. Due to differences between phosphor material and the surroundings, an interface effect arose to compete with the process of inherent dead layers of the individual particles. It was found to be mostly negligible for x-rays in the studied energy and material range. However, an effect was shown for electrons as incident ionising radiation which could shed some light on the strangely neglected apparent dead layer created this way. Finally, applications, one involving developing a prototype for checking the light field radiation field coincidence, were evaluated for overall performance and the optimisation level of the applied fluorescent layer. Interesting findings were made during the development process: for the first time to the knowledge of the author, focus shift wandering was quantified in the corresponding movement of the x-ray field edge and a non-trivial discussion on the concept of an apparent light field edge resulted in a modified definition of the same.
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| 5. |
- Salih, Isam M. Musa, 1973-
(författare)
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Radon in natural waters : Analytical Methods; Correlation to Environmental Parameters; Radiation Dose Estimation; and GIS Applications
- 2003
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Investigations of radon in natural water and its relation to physical and chemical parameters are outlined in this thesis. In particular, a method for measuring 222Rn in water at low concentrations (~20 mBq.l-1) is described, followed by discussions concerning the design and its application to study both radon and parameters influencing radon levels in natural waters. A topic considered is the impact of fluoride and other aquatic parameters on radon in water. Moreover, variables such as uranium series radionuclides and stable elements in water, bedrock and sediment radioactivity and geology are investigated in two case studies. This was performed by employing radiometric-, chemical-, statistical- and GIS & geostatistical- analyses. The general water chemistry and presence of some elements such as fluoride was observed to influence radon levels in water. Health aspects of radon in drinking water are discussed based on radiation dose assessments. The radiation doses are compared with and added to doses incurred from ingestion of uranium, radium and polonium isotopes in drinking water and inhalation of radon in air in order to estimate total exposures for different age categories. The results may have a potential for future epidemiological studies.
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