Feasibility of using glass-bead thermoluminescent dosimeters for radiotherapy treatment plan verification.

Objective: To investigate the feasibility of using glass beads as novel thermoluminescent dosemeters (TLDs) for radiotherapy treatment plan verification.

Methods: Commercially available glass beads with a size of 1-mm thickness and 2-mm diameter were characterized as TLDs. Five clinical treatment plans including a conventional larynx, a conformal prostate, an intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) prostate and two stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) lung plans were transferred onto a CT scan of a water-equivalent phantom (Solid Water(®), Gammex, Middleton, WI) and the dose distribution recalculated.

Preliminary Monte Carlo study of (18)F-FDG SPECT imaging with LaBr(3):Ce Crystal-based Gamma Cameras.

The utility of (18)F-deoxyglucose ((18)F-FDG) in oncology, cardiology, and neurology has generated great interest in a more economical ways of imaging (18)F-FDG than conventional PET scanners. The main thrust of this work is to investigate the potential use of LaBr(3):Ce materials in a low-cost FDG-SPECT system compared to NaI(Tl) using GATE Monte Carlo simulation. System performance at 140 keV and 511 keV was assessed using energy spectra, system sensitivity and count rate performance.

The elemental analysis of staple foods for children in Tanzania as a step to the improvement of their nutrition and health.

The objective of this study was to evaluate the contents of essential elements in the two staple foods (rice and maize flour) consumed by children in Tanzania as a possible selection measure for high nutrient foods in order to combat malnutrition. Samples were analysed using proton-induced X-ray emission (PIXE) at the University of Surrey Ion Beam Centre. The mean concentrations of elements determined in the two staple foods are presented and compared with the mean concentrations published in the literature.

Spectral reconstruction by scatter analysis for a linear accelerator photon beam.

Pre-existing methods for photon beam spectral reconstruction are briefly reviewed. An alternative reconstruction method by scatter analysis for linear accelerators is introduced. The method consists in irradiating a small plastic phantom at standard 100 cm SSD and inferring primary beam energy spectral information based on the measurement with a standard Farmer chamber of scatter around the phantom at several specific scatter angles: a scatter curve is measured which is indicative of the primary spectrum at hand.

Performance of three-photon PET imaging: Monte Carlo simulations.

We have recently introduced the idea of making use of three-photon positron annihilations in positron emission tomography. In this paper, the basic characteristics of the three-gamma imaging in PET are studied by means of Monte Carlo simulations and analytical computations. Two typical configurations of human and small animal scanners are considered.

Three-gamma annihilation imaging in positron emission tomography.

It is argued that positron annihilation into three photons, although quite rare, could still be used as a new imaging modality of positron emission tomography. The information gained when the three decay photons are detected is significantly higher than in the case of 511 keV two-gamma annihilation. The performance of three-gamma imaging in terms of the required detector properties, spatial resolution and counting rates is discussed.