Download - 08 chap 07 quality of x-ray beams
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Chapter 7 Quality of X-Ray Beams
Half-value layer is used to describe the quality of a beam, the ability to penetrate materials of known composition.
It is used for bremsstrahlung photon beams, which has a spectrum of energies, but not for –ray beams, whose energy is discrete and unique (for example, Co-60 has energies 1.17 & 1.33 MeV photons).
The half-value layer is defined as the thickness of an absorber of specified composition required to attenuate the intensity of the beam to half its original value.
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7.1 Half-Value Layer
For low-energy x-ray beams, beam quality is described in terms of HVL together with kVp. This is because the beam is usually further filtered.
For mega-voltage x-ray beams, the quality is specified by the peak energy alone (e.g. 6-MV). This is because the beam is already filtered through the target and flattening filter so that no additional filtration is used.
(Sometimes TMR ratio such as is also used.)
The average energy is approximately 1/3 of its peak energy.
)1010,10(
)1010,20(2
220
10 cmcmdTMR
cmcmdTMRTMR
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7.2 Filters
Photon energy (keV)
Ene
rgy
flue
nce
per
ener
gy in
terv
alK-characteristic radiation of Tungsten (58-69 keV)
Al (inherent) filtration
Al + Sn + Cu filtration
Al + Sn filtrationK-edge of Tin (29 keV)
50 100 150 200
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7.2 Filters (cont’d)
Thoraeus filters (combination filters) used with orthovoltage x-rays
Filter target (tungsten) composition
Thoraeus I 0.2 mm Sn + 0.25 mm Cu + 1 mm Al
Thoraeus II 0.4 mm Sn + 0.25 mm Cu + 1 mm Al
Thoraeus III 0.6 mm Sn + 0.25 mm Cu + 1 mm Al
Note the order is important:
W (Z=74), Sn (Z=50), Cu (Z=29), Al (Z=13)
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• For cesium and cobalt machines (-rays), filters are not needed because the beams are almost monoenergetic (thus no preferential attenuation by the filters).
• For megavoltage x-ray beams, the beam is hardened by the target (transmission type) and the flattening filter, thus no additional filtration is needed.
7.2 Filters (cont’d)
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7.3 Measurement of Beam Quality Parameters (HVL)
Incident photon fluence
transmitted photon fluence
scattered photons
detector
collimator
1
10
100
0 1 2 3 4 5
Absorber thickness (mm Al)
50
6
50
25
12.5
3rd HVL2nd HVL1st HVL
Tra
nsm
itted
inte
nsity
(%
)
narrow beam ‘good’ geometry
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7.3 Measurement of Beam Quality Parameters (peak voltage)
Direct Methods
R
I
V = R I
Vtot = n×V
Voltage divider
d
Sphere gap
RR R• • •
n
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Sphere Diameter (cm)
gap (cm) 5 10 15 25 50 100 200
0.5 17.5 (kv) 16.9 16.5
1 32.2 31.6 31.3 31
1.5 46.1 45.8 45.5 45
2 58.3 59.3 59.2 59
2.5 69.4 72.4 72.9 73
3 79.3 84.9 85.8 86
4 107 111 113 112
5 128 134 138 138 137 137
7.3 Measurement of Beam Quality Parameters (peak voltage) – sphere-gap method
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7.3 Measurement of Beam Quality Parameters (peak voltage)
Indirect Methods (fluorescent method)
X-ray source
Chamber 1
Chamber 2
filter
attenuatorTube voltage
Tra
nsm
itted
/sc
atte
red
radi
atio
n
K-edge of the attenuator = kVp
Photon energy
atte
nuat
ion
coef
fici
ent
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7.3 Measurement of Beam Quality Parameters (effective energy)
X-ray beams are always heterogeneous because they are produced by bremsstrahlung. The effective energy of an x-ray beam is the energy of a monoenergetic beam that has the same attenuation coefficient or HVL.
(for illustration only)
HVL
693.0
1 2 3 4 5
HVL(mm)
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
160
180
aluminum
copper
effe
ctiv
e en
ergy
(k
eV)
energy
atte
nuat
ion
coef
fici
ent
aluminum
copper
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10 20 30 40
20
10
0
30
Peak photon energy (MeV)
Hal
f-va
lue
laye
r (m
m P
b or
mm
H2O
)
water
lead
Half-value layer in lead is not the best choice to express beam quality for megavoltage beams. Low atomic number materials such as water are more sensitive to changes in spectral quality in megavoltage x-rays.
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7.3 Measurement of Beam Quality Parameters (mean energy)
The mean energy of a beam may be calculated in two different ways:
max
0
max
0
max
0
max
0
E
E
E
E
E
E
E
E
dE
EdE
dE
EdE
E
E
or
E = photon fluence
E = photon energy fluence
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7.4 Measurement of Megavoltage Beam Energy
The maximum (peak) photon energy can be estimated by measurements such as percent depth dose, tissue air ratios, or tissue maximum ratios. But these methods are relatively insensitive to the maximum energy.
Alternatively, it can also be measured with the photoactivation ratio method. The procedure involves photoactivation of a pair of foils which react differently to different energies.
As the maximum energy itself is not the most important factor for beam quality, it is not routinely measured in the clinic.
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7.5 Measurement of Energy Spectrum
Energy spectrum is needed for certain applications such as accurate dose calculations. It can be measured with a scintillation spectrometer.
Photon energyEne
rgy
flue
nce
per
ener
gy in
terv
al X-ray source
photomultiplier
Pulse height analyzer
scaler
Scintillation crystal
Lead shield