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Leakage radiation from electron applicators on a medical accelerator
Author(s) -
Pennington Edward C.,
Jani Shirish K.,
Wen BChen
Publication year - 1988
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 - 10.1118/1.596191
Subject(s) - leakage (economics) , collimator , radiation , materials science , cathode ray , linear particle accelerator , electron , dosimetry , optics , beam (structure) , nuclear medicine , physics , nuclear physics , medicine , economics , macroeconomics
The leakage characteristics of electron applicators on our Clinac 2500 linear accelerator have been measured. The leakage radiation in the patient plane and at the surface of the electron applicators has been measured for applicator sizes from 6 cm×6 cm to 25 cm×25 cm and beam energies from 6 to 22 MeV. For certain applicator/energy combinations the leakage radiation was significant. The leakage radiation, relative to the central axis dose, was found to be up to 7% in the patient plane and up to 39% at the applicator surface. Reducing the collimator setting or adding lead at select locations on the applicator surface was effective in reducing the magnitude of the radiation leakage.