Two-dimensional and quasi-three-dimensional dosimetry of hadron and photon beams with the Magic Cube and the pixel ionization chamber

R. Cirio, E. Garelli, R. Schulte, S. Amerio, A. Boriano, F. Bourhaleb, G. Coutrakon, M. Donetti, S. Giordanengo, P. Koss, E. Madon, F. Marchetto, U. Nastasi, C. Peroni, D. Santuari, A. Sardo, G. Scielzo, M. Stasi, E. Trevisiol

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Two detectors for fast two-dimensional (2D) and quasi-three-dimensional (quasi-3D) verification of the dose delivered by radiotherapy beams have been developed at University and Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN) of Torino. The Magic Cube is a stack of strip-segmented ionization chambers interleaved with water-equivalent stabs. The parallel plate ionization chambers have a sensitive area of 24 × 24 cm2, and consist of 0.375 cm wide and 24 cm long strips. There are a total of 64 strips per chamber. The Magic Cube has been tested with the clinical proton beam at Loma Linda University Medical Centre (LLUMC), and was shown to be capable of fast and precise quasi-3D dose verification. The Pixel Ionization Chamber (PXC) is a detector with pixel anode segmentation. It is a 32 × 32 matrix of 1024 cylindrical ionization cells arranged in a square 24 × 24 cm2 area. Each cell has 0.4 cm diameter and 0.55 cm height, at a pitch of 0.75 cm separates the centre of adjacent cells. The sensitive volume of each single ionization cell is 0.07 cm3. The detectors are read out using custom designed front-end microelectronics and a personal computer-based data acquisition system. The PXC has been used to verify dynamic intensity-modulated radiotherapy for head-and-neck and breast cancers.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)3713-3724
Number of pages12
JournalPhysics in Medicine and Biology
Volume49
Issue number16
DOIs
StatePublished - Aug 21 2004

ASJC Scopus Subject Areas

  • Radiological and Ultrasound Technology
  • Radiology Nuclear Medicine and imaging

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