A portable organic plastic scintillator dosimetry system for low energy X-rays: A feasibility study using an intraoperative X-ray unit as the radiation source

The effective use of near water equivalent organic plastic scintillators (OPS) for radiation dosimetry with high-energy sources under laboratory conditions is recognized. In this work, an OPS-based dosimeter using a photodiode combined with improved solid state detection and signal processing techniques has been developed; it offers the potential for the construction of a stable and fully portable dosimeter which will extend the useful range of measurement beyond the usual MeV area and provide reliable readings down to sub-‘100 keV’ X-ray energy levels. In these experiments, the instrument described has been used for the dosimetry of INTRABEAM intraoperative radiotherapy (IORT) equipment at distances as low as 1.8 mm from the effective source, i.e., 0.2 mm from the X-ray probe surface. Comparison is shown with dosimetry measurements made using the calibrated reference ion chamber supplied by the IORT equipment manufacturer.