Premium
Dosimetric characteristics of Thermo‐Shield material for orthovoltage photon beams
Author(s) -
Bahmaid Mohammad,
Kim Siyong,
Liu Chihray R.,
Palta Jatinder R.
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
medical physics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.473
H-Index - 180
eISSN - 2473-4209
pISSN - 0094-2405
DOI - 10.1118/1.1572431
Subject(s) - shield , electromagnetic shielding , materials science , photon , thermoplastic , dosimetry , optics , nuclear medicine , composite material , physics , geology , medicine , petrology
Conventionally, lead has been used for field shaping in orthovoltage radiation therapy. Recently, a compensator material named Thermo‐Shield was presented for field shaping in electron beams. Thermo‐Shield is composed of nontoxic, high atomic weight metal particles dispersed in a thermoplastic matrix. It is manually moldable and conforms to human anatomy or any shape at temperatures of 108 – 132 ° F . It is reusable and can be continuously reshaped to better fit the treatment field. Dosimetric characteristics of thermoplastic material were studied for Philips RT250 orthovoltage photon beams ranging from 75 to 250 kVp. It was found that Thermo‐Shield should be four to five times thicker than lead to achieve the same transmission (less than 5%). However, it did not cause significant degradation in penumbra. Clinical procedures for use are discussed.