Paper based radiochromic film for the detection and measurement of therapeutic radiation doses in radiotherapy: A preliminary study

Abstract

Radiotherapy is an effective and complex treatment modality for the ablation of malignant tumors. Despite several technological advances, precise determination of the radiation dose delivered to the tumor and its neighbouring healthy tissues remains a challenge. This work focuses on the synthesis and characterisation of a symmetrically substituted diacetylene which is coated on a paper to function as a radiochromic film. The paper-based film exhibits distinct color change from white to varying shades of blue from the 0.5–20 Gy dose range administered in radiotherapy. The difference in the color intensity of the radiochromic film is used as a quantitative indicator of the radiation dose delivered. A comprehensive evaluation of general optical characteristics, dosimetric properties and stability of the dose response is performed. The prepared film is tissue-equivalent with weak dependence on dosimetric parameters like energy, dose rate and dose accumulation. It can be stored under normal room conditions as the influence of variation in temperature, light intensity and post irradiation time was found to be <2%. The uncertainty in the dose response based on the calibration curve was found to be 2.74%. The therapeutic range of radiation dose detection, facile fabrication and implementation of this radiochromic film can be potentially translated into different radiotherapy clinical applications.