Dose assessment to the Bladder during Intracavitary Brachytherapy of the Cervix using Gafchromic films

Authors

  • J. Avevor  University of Cape Coast, School of Agriculture and Physical Sciences Faculty of Physical Sciences, Department of Physics, Cape coast, Ghana
  • S. N. A. Tagoe  National Centre of Radiotherapy and Nuclear Medicine, Department of Medical Physics, Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital, Accra Ghana
  • J. H. Amuasi  Graduate School of Nuclear and Allied Sciences, University of Ghana, Legon, Ghana
  • J. J. Fletcher  Ghana Atomic Energy Commission, Radiological and Medical Sciences Research Institute, Medical Radiation Physics Centre, Accra, Ghana
  • I. Shirazu  Ghana Atomic Energy Commission, Radiological and Medical Sciences Research Institute, Medical Radiation Physics Centre, Accra, Ghana

DOI:

https://doi.org//10.32628/IJSRSET173486

Keywords:

Bladder Dose, Applicators, Cervix Phantoms, Gafchromic Film

Abstract

Intracavitary brachytherapy procedures are used for cervical cancer treatment, by the insertion of radioactive implants directly into the diseased tissues. During the treatment process, the bladder together with surrounding tissues are exposed to radiations. Clinical complications do results from high doses received by parts of the bladder during intracavitary brachytherapy of the cervix. The aim of this study is to assess the dose delivered to the bladder using Gafchromic films and compare it with the optimized dose calculated by the Brachy Prowess 4.60 Treatment Planning System (TPS) reports for empirical validation and system verification. Fletcher suite applicators were used to perform thirty (30) different clinical insertions on the constructed cervix phantom and results evaluated. The mean difference between the doses calculated by the TPS and the doses measured by the Gafchromic film for the bladder at the distance of 0.5cm from the edge of the film was 16.3 % (range -35.33 to +39.37). At a distance of 1.5cm for the bladder, the mean difference was 19.4% (range -49.48 to +30.39). The TPS calculated maximum dose was typically higher than the measured maximum dose. However, in some cases, the measured doses were found to be higher than the doses calculated by the TPS. This is due to positional inaccuracies of the sources during treatment planning. It is recommended that in vivo dosimetry be performed in addition to computation.

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International Journal of Scientific Research in Science, Engineering and Technology

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Published

2017-07-31

Issue

Volume 3, Issue 6, September-October-2017

Section

Research Articles

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How to Cite

[1]
J. Avevor, S. N. A. Tagoe, J. H. Amuasi, J. J. Fletcher, I. Shirazu, " Dose assessment to the Bladder during Intracavitary Brachytherapy of the Cervix using Gafchromic films, International Journal of Scientific Research in Science, Engineering and Technology(IJSRSET), Print ISSN : 2395-1990, Online ISSN : 2394-4099, Volume 3, Issue 6, pp.97-105, September-October-2017. Available at doi : https://doi.org/10.32628/IJSRSET173486