Water equivalency evaluation of PRESAGE^®dosimeters for dosimetry of Cs-137 and Ir-192 brachytherapy sources

Abstract

A major challenge in brachytherapy dosimetry is the measurement of steep dose gradients. This can be achieved with a high spatial resolution three dimensional (3D) dosimeter. PRESAGE<sup></sup> is a polyurethane based dosimeter which is suitable for 3D dosimetry. Since an ideal dosimeter is radiologically water equivalent, we have investigated the relative dose response of three different PRESAGE<sup></sup> formulations, two with a lower chloride and bromide content than original one, for Cs-137 and Ir-192 brachytherapy sources. Doses were calculated using the EGSnrc Monte Carlo package. Our results indicate that PRESAGE<sup></sup> dosimeters are suitable for relative dose measurement of Cs-137 and Ir-192 brachytherapy sources and the lower halogen content PRESAGE<sup></sup> dosimeters are more water equivalent than the original formulation.