Precise Pulse Delivery Control Using Monitor Units in Electron FLASH-RT

In electron FLASH-RT, precise delivery of the correct number of pulses is critical to accurate dose administration in preclinical radiobiological studies. This work investigates the use of LINAC monitor ion chambers to most precisely control FLASH pulse delivery. Calibrated plastic scintillation detector and EBT-XD Gafchromic films were used for online and passive dosimetry, respectively. The plastic scintillation detector also served as a direct pulse counter.

2021 AAPM ANNUAL MEETING
J.Xu, Y.Poirier, A.Sawant | University of Maryland School of Medicine, MD, USA

Novel Plastic Scintillator for Online Dosimetry in Electron FLASH-RT

The accurate delivery of electrons at FLASH-RT dose rates in radiobiological experiments require new dosimeters that are capable of accurately measuring the radiation dose delivered at >0.55 Gy per pulse (>100 Gy/s) in real-time. The novel HYPERSCINT RP100 plastic dosimeter was able to accurately measure the delivered radiation absorbed dose under characterization and biological experimental conditions, with a higher degree of reliability than conventional radiochromic film. Furthermore, it was shown to directly and accurately measure the number of pulses delivered in real time. This shows potential for use as a real-time in-vivo dosimeter during biological experiments, as well as potential clinical applications.

2021 AAPM ANNUAL MEETING
Y.Poirier (1), J.Xu (1), A.Ahmady (1), S.Mossahebi (1), H.Zhang (1), F.Therriault-Proulx (2), A.Sawant (1) | 1- University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA , 2- MEDSCINT, QC, CANADA

Investigation of the HyperscintTM Plastic Scintillation Dosimetry System Performance in a 15 MeV electron beam at FLASH dose rates

The performance of the HYPERSCINT plastic scintillation dosimetry system in a 15 MeV electron beam operating at FLASH dose rates was investigated. The linac produced a 15 MeV electron FLASH beam with an average dose rate of ~250 Gy/s and dose per pulse between 1 Gy and 1.7 Gy, at the level just above the multi-leaf collimator. The HYPERSCINT plastic scintillator detector system agreed with OSLDs within 3.5% for 10 to 20 pulse FLASH deliveries using the standard dose rate calibration for both dosimeters.

2021 COMP ANNUAL SCIENTIFIC MEETING
C.Mendez, P.Petric, T.Karan, C.Duzenli | BC Cancer, Vancouver, BC, CA

EFLASH Dosimetry On a Conventional Linac Using Pulse-Gated Delivery

To build on previous experiments and improve reproducibility of electron FLASH delivery on a conventional linear accelerator, a pulse-gating circuit was constructed and tested with several dosimeters including : a 0.01cc volume ion chamber, optically stimulated luminescence dosimeters (OSLDs), Gafchromic MD film and a novel plastic scintillation detector with spectral analysis (HYPERSCINT).

2021 AAPM ANNUAL MEETING
C.Duzenli, C.Mendez, M.Petric, J.Sweeney, D.Ta, T.Karan | BC Cancer, Vancouver, BC, CANADA

On the use of a single-fiber multipoint plastic scintillation detector for 192Ir high-dose-rate brachytherapy

The goal of this study was to prove the feasibility of using a single-fiber multipoint plastic scintillation detector as an in vivo verification tool during (192)Ir high-dose-rate brachytherapy treatments. The use of a multipoint plastic scintillation detector for high-dose-rate brachytherapy dosimetry is feasible. This detector shows great promise for development of in vivo applications for real-time verification of treatment delivery.

MEDICAL PHYSICS
F.Therriault-Proulx, S.Beddar, L.Beaulieu | Department of Radiation Physics, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, USA

Development of a novel multi-point plastic scintillation detector with a single optical transmission line for radiation dose measurement

The goal of this study was to develop a novel multi-point plastic scintillation detector capable of measuring the dose accurately at multiple positions simultaneously using a single optical transmission line. This study demonstrates the practical feasibility of multi-point plastic scintillation detector. This type of detector could be very useful for pre-treatment quality assurance applications as well as an accurate tool for real-time in vivo dosimetry.

PHYSICS IN MEDICINE & BIOLOGY
F.Therriault-Proulx, L.Archambault, L.Beaulieu, S.Beddar | Department of Radiation Physics, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, USA, Département de Physique, de Génie Physique et d’Optique, Université Laval, Québec, Québec, Canada, Département de Radio-Oncologie, Hôtel-Dieu de Québec, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Québec, Québec, Canada

A Novel Multi-Headed Scintillation Detector for Fast and Efficient Dose Measurements at Multiple Locations Simultaneously

To develop and quantify the performances of a novel multi-point scintillation detector having multiple heads connected to the same optical line, allowing real-time dose measurements simultaneously at 3 positions in non-contiguous space.

2022 AAPM ANNUAL MEETING
B.Lessard (1,2), Y.Lechasseur (3), S.Lambert-girard (3), F.Therriault-Proulx (3), L.Beaulieu (1,2), L.Archambault (1,2) | 1- Département de physique, génie physique et optique, et Centre de recherche sur le cancer, Université Laval, Québec, CA , 2- CHU de Quebec – Universite Laval, QC, Canada, 3- MEDSCINT, QC, Canada

Characterization of an x‐ray tube‐based ultrahigh dose‐rate system for in vitro irradiations.

To present an x-ray tube system capable of in vitro ultrahigh dose-rate (UHDR) irradiation of small < 0.3 mm samples and to characterize it by means of a plastic scintillation detector (PSD).

Med Phys. 2021
D.Cecchi (1), F.Therriault-Proulx (2), S.Lambert-girard (2), A.Hart (1), A.Macdonald (1), M.Pfleger (1), M.Lenckowski (1), M.Bazalova-Carter (1) | Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Victoria, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, MedScint, QC, CA

Pre-Clinical and Clinical Evaluation of the HYPERSCINT Scintillation Dosimetry Research Platform

The purpose of this work is to evaluate the HYPERSCINT scintillation dosimetry research platform (Medscint Inc., Quebec City, Canada) designed for clinical QA for use in in-vivo dosimetry measurements.

2020 AAPM AM
I.Schoepper, E.Trestrail, S.Dieterich, M.Kent | WR Pritchard Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital, UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine UC Davis School Of Veterinary Medicine, Pacific Crest Medical Physics ,Chico, CA, UC Davis Medical Center, Sacramento, CA, Surgical and Radiological Sciences, UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine, Davis, CA

Evaluation of scintillation detectors for ultrahigh dose-rate x-ray beam dosimetry

FLASH-Radiotherapy is an emerging ultrahigh dose rates radiotherapy technique, and animal studies have demonstrated the safety and efficacy of the technique in cancer treatment. A reliable real-time dosimeter system is crucial for the characterization of the so-called ‘FLASH-effect’, and an accurate beam delivery. This study aims to benchmark the performance of optical fiber inorganic scintillating detectors (ISDs) with plastic scintillating detectors (PSDs) for an ultrahigh dose-rate x-ray beam irradiation. Measurements includes : relative scintillator output, signal linearity with dose and dose rate, signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), signal stability and reliability.

The PSDs resulted in the highest reliability for a UHDR beam measurement with a CV of <0.1% while the Gd2O2S:Tb showed excellent repeatability (coefficient of variation (CV) <0.1%) compared to other detectors. All detectors showed good linearity with tube current (R2 < 0.975) and shutter exposure (R2 >0.999).

Proc Spie
Shahirah Shaharuddin (1), Alexander Hart (2), Magdalena Bazalova-Carter (2), Luc Beaulieu (3), Cloe Giguere (3), Christoph Kleefeld (1), Mark J. Foley (1) | 1. National University of Ireland, Galway (Ireland), 2. University of Victoria (Canada), 3 University Laval (Canada)