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Dosimetric characteristics of mercury and cerrobend blocks in megavoltage radiation therapy

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Abstract

In this study some dosimetric parameters of mercury was investigated and compared with cerrobend as a common beam attenuator material. Experimental dosimetry for different thicknesses of cerrobend and mercury was done at 6 and 18 MV photon beams. With augmentation of the attenuator thickness, d max and beam quality index increased at 6 MV but at 18 MV, beam softening happened. The transmission values increased with field size increment and linear attenuation coefficient decreases slightly as the thickness of the attenuating filter increased. The attenuation ability of mercury was about 1.44 times more than cerrobend and it can be proposed as a beam modifier.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences (Grant Number: u-90083).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Medical Physics and Radiation Therapy Department, Golestan Hospital, Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences, Ahvaz, Iran

    Mohamad Javad Tahmasebi-Birgani

  2. Medical Physics and Radiation Therapy Department, Khansari Hospital, Arak University of Medical Sciences, Arāk, Iran

    Fatemeh Seif & Mohamad Reza Bayatiani

  3. Radiation Oncology Department, Khansari Hospital, Arak University of Medical Sciences, Arāk, Iran

    Fatemeh Seif

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  1. Mohamad Javad Tahmasebi-Birgani
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  2. Fatemeh Seif
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  3. Mohamad Reza Bayatiani
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Correspondence to Fatemeh Seif.

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Tahmasebi-Birgani, M.J., Seif, F. & Bayatiani, M.R. Dosimetric characteristics of mercury and cerrobend blocks in megavoltage radiation therapy. J Radioanal Nucl Chem 303, 1843–1850 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-014-3721-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-014-3721-x

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