Abstract
Recently, medical applications of radiation have been widely spread. However, exposure of medical staffs is sometimes not focused on because treatment of patients is the first priority. It is thus important to decrease exposure for them as much as possible. The purpose of this study is to develop a system which can measure energy spectrum and dose of gamma-rays at the same time in real time in medical application spots. As a result, the medical staff could be guided to aware the risk of radiation and finally the exposure dose to them could be suppressed substantially. We first decided to use a CsI(Tl) scintillator as the gamma-ray detection device. A Multi-Pixel Photon Counter (MPPC) was attached to the scintillator to detect gamma-ray signals. Pulse height spectra were measured with several standard gamma-ray sources. The detection efficiency and energy resolution were deduced from the measured results and the detection efficiency was compared with the calculation result by MCNP5. After evaluating the response function, the energy spectrum was derived with the spectrum type Bayesian estimation and the sequential Bayesian estimation procedure. From the result, it was confirmed that the sequential Bayesian estimation could be applied to real time measurement of gamma-ray energy spectrum and dose.
Highlights
In recent years, radiations have been used very often in medical field, i.e., radiation therapy, production of radioactive drugs and so on
The purpose of this study is to develop a spectrometer which can show gamma-ray energy spectrum and the dose simultaneously in real time to make them understand the risk of radiation appropriately and to decrease the exposure dose of the medical staffs
Pulse height spectra evaluated for every 10 keV from 100 keV to 3 MeV are compiled to make the response function of the present prototype spectrometer
Summary
Radiations have been used very often in medical field, i.e., radiation therapy, production of radioactive drugs and so on. There are risks of radiation exposure to medical staffs in the field by secondary produced gamma-rays. The exposure dose of medical staffs is not so seriously focused on so far, because treatment of patients is the first priority in hospitals. The purpose of this study is to develop a spectrometer (monitor) which can show gamma-ray energy spectrum and the dose simultaneously in real time to make them understand the risk of radiation appropriately and to decrease the exposure dose of the medical staffs. The staffs will be able to engage in medical treatments with radiations, recognizing their exposure dose and energy information (gamma-ray energy spectrum) at the same time for their own safety. There were no monitors which can show the gamma-ray energy spectrum and dose at the same time. The monitor which we seek estimate the energy spectrum of gamma-rays, with which the dose can be evaluated accurately
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