TY - JOUR
T1 - Mass-manufacturable scintillation-based optical fiber dosimeters for brachytherapy
AU - Gierej, Agnieszka
AU - Baghdasaryan, Tigran
AU - Martyn, Michael
AU - Woulfe, Peter
AU - Mc Laughlin, Owen
AU - Price, Kevin
AU - Workman, Geraldine
AU - O'Keeffe, Sinead
AU - Rochlitz, Kurt
AU - Verlinski, Sergey
AU - Giaz, Agnese
AU - Santoro, Romualdo
AU - Caccia, Massimo
AU - Berghmans, Francis
AU - Van Erps, Jürgen
N1 - Funding Information:
The ORIGIN project is an initiative of the Photonics Public Private Partnership ( www.photonics21.org ) and has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 871324 . Interreg North-West Europe (NWE758, Fotonica pilootlijnen), Industrial Research Fund (IOF) , OZR of Vrije Universiteit Brussel , Methusalem Foundation, the FWO Research Infrastructure program are acknowledged as well.
Funding Information:
The ORIGIN project is an initiative of the Photonics Public Private Partnership (www.photonics21.org) and has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 871324. Interreg North-West Europe (NWE758), Interreg Vlaanderen-Nederland (Fotonica pilootlijnen), Industrial Research Fund (IOF) and OZR of Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Methusalem Foundation, the FWO Research Infrastructure program are acknowledged as well.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2024 Elsevier B.V.
PY - 2024/7/1
Y1 - 2024/7/1
N2 - Scintillation -based fiber dosimeters are a powerful tool for minimally invasive localized real-time monitoring of the dose rate during Low Dose Rate (LDR) and High Dose Rate (HDR) brachytherapy (BT). This paper presents the design, fabrication, and characterization of such dosimeters, consisting of scintillating sensor tips attached to polymer optical fiber (POF). The sensor tips consist of inorganic scintillators, i.e. Gd2O2S:Tb for LDR-BT, and Y2O3:Eu+4YVO4:Eu for HDR-BT, dispersed in a polymer host. The shape and size of the tips are optimized using non -sequential ray tracing simulations towards maximizing the collection and coupling of the scintillation signal into the POF. They are then manufactured by means of a custom moulding process implemented on a commercial hot embossing machine, paving the way towards series production. Dosimetry experiments in water phantoms show that both the HDR-BT and LDR-BT sensors feature good consistency in the magnitude of the average photon count rate and that the photon count rate signal is not significantly affected by variations in sensor tip composition and geometry. Whilst individual calibration remains necessary, the proposed dosimeters show great potential for in -vivo dosimetry for brachytherapy.
AB - Scintillation -based fiber dosimeters are a powerful tool for minimally invasive localized real-time monitoring of the dose rate during Low Dose Rate (LDR) and High Dose Rate (HDR) brachytherapy (BT). This paper presents the design, fabrication, and characterization of such dosimeters, consisting of scintillating sensor tips attached to polymer optical fiber (POF). The sensor tips consist of inorganic scintillators, i.e. Gd2O2S:Tb for LDR-BT, and Y2O3:Eu+4YVO4:Eu for HDR-BT, dispersed in a polymer host. The shape and size of the tips are optimized using non -sequential ray tracing simulations towards maximizing the collection and coupling of the scintillation signal into the POF. They are then manufactured by means of a custom moulding process implemented on a commercial hot embossing machine, paving the way towards series production. Dosimetry experiments in water phantoms show that both the HDR-BT and LDR-BT sensors feature good consistency in the magnitude of the average photon count rate and that the photon count rate signal is not significantly affected by variations in sensor tip composition and geometry. Whilst individual calibration remains necessary, the proposed dosimeters show great potential for in -vivo dosimetry for brachytherapy.
KW - inorganic scintillators, radiation sensor, brachytherapy, optical fiber, compression moulding
U2 - 10.1016/j.bios.2024.116237
DO - 10.1016/j.bios.2024.116237
M3 - Article
VL - 255
SP - 1
EP - 11
JO - Biosensors and Bioelectronics
JF - Biosensors and Bioelectronics
SN - 0956-5663
M1 - 116237
ER -