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Lookup NU author(s): Dr Roger Harrison, David Rawlings, Andrew Lecomber
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In addition to the therapeutic exposure, a course of radiotherapy will involve the additional (concomitant) irradiation of the patient using CT, simulator or portal imaging systems, for localization of the target volume and subsequent verification of treatment delivery. The number of concomitant exposures is likely to increase as the developing technical capabilities for conformal, image-guided radiotherapy make target and critical organ definition an increasingly important aspect of radiotherapy. Estimation of doses and risks to critical organs in the body from all sources is thus necessary to provide the basis for adequate justification of the exposures as required by ICRP. In this paper, doses to selected organs and tissues for which ICRP have identified fatal cancer probabilities have been measured using a realistic anthropomorphic phantom loaded with thermoluminescent dosemeters and irradiated using a treatment protocol for radical radiotherapy of the prostate. Independently, doses to the same organs and tissues have been measured from concomitant CT and portal imaging exposures given for localization and verification purposes. Although negligible in comparison with the target dose, realistic numbers of concomitant exposures give a small but significant contribution to the total dose to most organs and tissues outside the target volume. Generally, this is in the range 5-10% of the total organ dose, but can be as high as 20% for bone surfaces. These data may be used to estimate concomitant doses from any combination of CT and portal imaging and may help in the justification process, especially when additional verification exposures may be required during treatment.
Author(s): Harrison RM, Wilkinson M, Shemilt A, Rawlings DJ, Moore M, Lecomber AR
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: British Journal of Radiology
Year: 2006
Volume: 79
Issue: 942
Pages: 487-496
ISSN (print): 0007-1285
ISSN (electronic): 0961-2653
Publisher: British Institute of Radiology
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1259/bjr/16187818
DOI: 10.1259/bjr/16187818
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