Simulated and measured dose response characteristics of detectors used for CT dosimetry

Abstract

A CT-SD16 semiconductor detector was calibrated in terms of the computed tomography (CT) air kerma index for the integration length L = 100 mm, CK,PMMA,100, in the cylindrical CT head and body dosimetry phantoms using a DCT10 pencil ionization chamber as a reference instrument. Using IEC RQT 9 120-kV x-ray radiation quality and 25–62.5 mm nominal beam widths free in air, a CK,PMMA,100(DCT10)/CK,PMMA,100(CT-SD16) ratio of 0.97 was observed, while in the centre of 300 mm long CT head and body dosimetry phantoms, CK,PMMA,100(DCT10)/CK,PMMA,100(CT-SD16) ratios ranged from 1.02 to 1.09. Using IEC RQT 8–10 radiation qualities free in air, Monte Carlo simulated dose response characteristics of CT-SD16 and DCT10 were comparable with those obtained from the measurements. Simulations were also used to determine CK,PMMA,100(DCT10) in the centre of the CT head and body phantoms. At IEC RQT 9 and 25–62.5 mm nominal beam widths, the relative values of the simulated dose agreed with the measured values within 2–10% for the head and body phantoms, respectively. A kq correction factor between dose measurements in the phantom and free in air was determined for the model of DCT10 and for the real detectors using measured CK,PMMA,100 data. Simulations were performed using the EGSnrc CAVRZ code.