[Technical considerations on the usage of a general-purpose flatbed image scanner when making a dose-density table].

The DD-System is a dose-distribution system for analyzing the film method with a general-purpose flatbed image scanner. By analyzing the analogue digital conversion(ADC)value of each pixel acquired by the DD-system, we examined the technical problems of measurement with the scanner when making a dose-density table. When film of uniform density was measured, the ADC values distributed normally. Deviation of the values at the same pixel point on another time was about one-ten thousandth of the average. Deviation of the values from the time the scanner was turned on was in the same range. Although it may be negligible, the values measured at a peripheral area on the flatbed deviated about 2SD from the average measured at the central area. Further, deviation of the value obtained with a shade covering the outside of the irradiation field from that taken without the shade was about one thousandth. These deviations are not negligible. In the case of making a dose-density table with a DD-System and a general-purpose flatbed image scanner, the film should be set in the center of the flatbed, and the sampling area should be selected from those areas where the ADC values are distributed normally. Then proper data can be obtained and more accurate tables can be made.