• Progress in Medical Physics
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.55-62
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• 1999

In an effort to study the characteristics of x-rays utilized in radiation therapy, we calculated the energy distribution and the mean energy of x-rays generated from a tungsten target bombarded by 6, 10, and 15 MeV electron beams, using a Monte Carlo technique. The average photon energies calculated as a function of the beam radius lied in 1.4 ∼ 1.6, 2.1 ∼ 2.5 and 2.8 ∼ 3.3 MeV ranges for 4, 10, and 15 MV electron beams, respectively, which turned out to have no strong dependence on the radius. Using the energy distributions of 6,10, and 15 MV x-rays obtained for the target distance of 100 cm, percentage depth doses were determined using Monte Carlo calculations. For the case 10 MV, a comparison was made between our calculation and measurement performed by others. The calculated percentage depth dose appeared somewhat smaller than the measured one except in the surface region. We conclude that this is due to the fact that the beam hardening effect resulting from the flattening filter was not properly allowed for in our Monte Carlo calculations.

• Progress in Medical Physics
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.195-201
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• 2002

Several investigators have presented the effects of external magnetic fields on the dose distributions for clinical electron and photon beams. We focus the low energy electron beam with more lateral scatter In this study we calculated the beam profiles for an clinical electron beam of 6 MeV with longitudinal magnetic fields of 0.5 T-3.0 T using a Monte Carlo code. The principle of dose enhancements in the penumbra region is to deflect the laterally scattered electrons from its initial direction by the skewness of the laterally scattered electrons along the direction of magnetic field lines due to Lorentz force under longitudinal magnetic field. To discuss the dose enhancement effect on the penumbra area from the calculated results, we introduced the simple term of penumbra reduction ratio (PRR), which is defined as the percentage difference between the penumbra with and without magnetic field at the same depth. We found that the average PRR are 33%, and 49% over the depths of 1.5 cm, 2.0 cm, and 2.4 cm for the magnetic fields of 2.0 T and 3.0 T respectively. For the case of 0.5 T and 1.0 T the effects of magnetic filed were not observed significantly. In order to obtain the dose enhancement effects by the external magnetic field, we think that its strength should be more than 2 T approximately. We expect that the PRR would be saturated to 50-60% with magnetic fields of 3 T-5 T As a result of these calculations we found that the penumbra widths can be reduced with increased magnetic fields. This Penumbra reduction is explained as a result of electron lateral spread outside the geometrical edges of the beam in a longitudinal magnetic field. This means that the electron therapy benefits from the external magnetic fields.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.56 no.4
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• pp.1431-1440
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• 2024

The study aimed to develop a laser-based distance meter (LDM) to improve water surface identification for clinical MeV electron beam dosimetry, as inaccurate water surface determination can lead to imprecise positioning of ionization chambers (ICs). The LDM consisted of a laser ranging sensor, a signal processing microcontroller, and a tablet PC for data acquisition. I₅₀ (the water depth at which ionization current drops to 50 % of its maximum) measurements of electron beams were performed using six different types of ICs and compared to other water surface identification methods. The LDM demonstrated reproducible I₅₀ measurements with a level of 0.01 cm for all six ICs. The uncertainty of water depth was evaluated at 0.008 cm with the LDM. The LDM also exposed discrepancies between I₅₀ measurements using different ICs, which was partially reduced by applying an optimum shift of IC's point of measurement (POM) or effective point of measurement (EPOM). However, residual discrepancies due to the energy dependency of the cylindrical chamber's EPOM caused remained. The LDM offers straightforward and efficient means for precision water surface identification, minimizing reliance on individual operator skills.

• Radiation Oncology Journal
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.285-289
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• 1995

Purpose : We compared the calcualted percent depth dose curves of 6 MeV electron beam to that of measured to evaluate the usefulness of Monte-carlo simulation method in radiation physics. Materials and Methods : The radiation dose values of 6 MeV electron beam using EGS4 code with one million histories in water were compared values that were measured from the depth dose curve of electron beam irradiated by medical accelerator ML6M. The central axis dose values were calculated according to the changing field size. such as $5{\times}5,\;10{\times}10,\;15{\times}15,\;20{\times}20cm^2$. Results : The value calculated showed a very similar shape to depth dose curve. The calculated and measured value of $D_max$ at $10{\times}10cm^2$ cone is 15mm and 14mm respectively. The calculated value of the surface radiation dose rate is $65.52\%$ and measured one is $76.94\%$. The surface radiation dose rate has varied from $64.43\%$ to $66.99\%$. The calculated values of $D_max$ are in the range between 15mm and 18mm. The calculated value was fitted well with measured value around the $D_max$ area, excluding build up range and below the $90\%$ depth dose area. Conclusion : This result suggested that the calculation of dose value can be replace the direct measurement of the dose for radiation therapy. Also, EGS4 may be a very convenient program to assess the effect of radiation dose using by personal computers.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Medical Physics Conference
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• 2004.11a
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• pp.166-169
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• 2004

In the International Code of Practice for dosimetry TRS-398 published by International Atomic Energy Agency(IAEA), water equivalency plastic phantom may be used under certain circumstances for electron beam dosimetry for beam quality E0${\leq}$ 10 MeV. In this study, Palstic Water$^{TM}$ and Virtual Water$^{TM}$ were evaluated in order to determine fluence scaling factor hpl. Plastic phantom was evaluated for five electron energy from 6 MeV to 20 MeV. From the measured data of Palstic Water$^{TM}$, the fluence scaling factor hpl was found to be average 0.9964 and Virtual Water$^{TM}$ fluence scaling factor was 1.0156.

• Radiation Oncology Journal
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.455-461
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• 1993

Experimental measurements of dose characteristics with pentagonal applicator at nominal energy of 4, 6, 9, 12 and 15 MeV electron beam were performed for intraoperative radiotherapy (IORT) in ML-15MDX linear accelerator. This paper presents the percent depth dose, surface dose, beam flatness and output factors of using the IORT applicator in different electron beam energy. The output factor showed as a 24 percent higher in IORT applicator than that of reference $10{\times}10cm^2$ applicator. The surface dose of using the IORT applicator showed 7.7 and 2.7 percent higher than that of reference field in 4 and 15 MeV electron beam, respectively. In our experiments, the variation of percent depth dose was very small but the output factor and flatnees at 0.5 cm depth have showed a large value in IORT applicator.

• Progress in Medical Physics
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.49-53
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• 2017

The energy distribution was calculated for an electron beam from an electron linear accelerator developed for medical applications using computational methods. The depth dose data for monoenergetic electrons from 0.1 MeV to 8.0 MeV were calculated by the DOSXYZ/nrc code. The calculated data were used to generate the energy distribution from the measured depth dose data by numerical iterations. The measured data in a previous work and an in-house computer program were used for the generation of energy distribution. As results, the mean energy and most probable energy of the energy distribution were 5.7 MeV and 6.2 MeV, respectively. These two values agreed with those determined by the IAEA dosimetry protocol using the measured depth dose.

• Radiation Oncology Journal
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.337-345
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• 1998

Purpose : To obtain the uniform dose at limited depth to entire surface of the body, the dose characteristics of degraded electron beam of the large target-skin distance and the dose distribution of the six-dual electron fields were investigated Materials and Method : The experimental dose distributions included the depth dose curve, spatial dose and attenuated electron beam were determined with 300 cm of target-skin distance (TSD) and full collimator size (35*35 $cm^2$ on TSD 100 cm) in 4 MeV electron beam energy. Actual collimated field size of 105 cm * 105 cm at the distance of 300 cm could include entire hemibody. A patient was standing on step board with hands up and holding the pole to stabilize his/her positions for the six-dual fields technique. As a scatter-degrader, 0.5 cm of acrylic plate was inserted at 20 cm from the body surface on the electron beam path to induce ray scattering and to increase the skin dose. Results : The full width at half maximum(FWHM) of dose profile was 130 cm in large field of 105*105 $cm^2$ The width of $100\pm10\%$ of the resultant dose from two adjacent fields which were separated at 25 cm from field edge for obtaining the dose unifomity was extended to 186 cm. The depth of maximum dose lies at 5 mm and the 80$\%$ depth dose lies between 7 and 8 mm for the degraded electron beam by using the 0.5 cm thickness of acrylic absorber. Total skin electron beam irradiation (TSEBI) was carried out using the six dual fields has been developed at Stanford University. The dose distribution in TSEBI showed relatively uniform around the flat region of skin except the protruding and deeply curvatured portion of the body, which showed excess of dose at the former and less dose at the latter. Conclusion : The percent depth dose, profile curves and superimposed dose distribution were investigated using the degraded electron beam through the beam absorber. The dose distribution obtained by experiments of TSEBI showed within$\pm10\%$ difference except the protruding area of skin which needs a shield and deeply curvatured region of skin which needs boosting dose.

• Progress in Medical Physics
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.155-160
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• 1991

We have studied the effective point of measurement for cylindrical ion chamber in water phantom for medical electron beams. Markus parallel plate chamber water phantom are used for the measurement of depth dose to determine the depth of the effective point of measurement for various energies(for electron 6MeV, 9MeV, 12MeV, 16MeV, and 20MeV; Co-60; for photon 6MV, 15MV). Cylindrical ion chambes(PTW233643 with r=2.75mm, PR-05P with r=2mm, and PM30 wiht r=15mm are used for the measurement of depth dose by same mtethod and the values of d$\_$50/ and R$\_$p/ obtained by three cylindrical chambers were compared with those of a flat chamber. From this we could evaluate the effective measuring points of cylindrical ion chamber. The effective point of measurement was estimated as 0.4～0.6r shifted toward surface from the center of the chamber for electron beam, 0.3～0.7r for $\^$60/Co X-ray.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Medical Physics Conference
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• 2002.09a
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• pp.109-112
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• 2002

Using Monte Carlo calculations the effects of longitudinal magnetic fields on the beam profiles produced by clinical electron beam were studied. The Monte Carlo calculations were performed using the EGS4 code system modified to account for external magnetic fields. The beam profiles for a 6 MeV electron beam with longitudinal magnetic fields of 0.5-3.0 T were calculated. As a result of these calculations we found that the penumbra widths can be reduced with increased magnetic fields. This means that the electron therapy benefits from the external magnetic fields.