A new less toxic polymer gel dosimeter: Radiological characteristics and dosimetry properties

Purpose: A new polymer gel dosimeter recipe was investigated that may be more suitable for widespread applications than polyacrylamide gel dosimeters, since the extremely toxic acrylamide has been replaced with the less harmful monomer 2-Acrylamido 2-Methyl Propane Sulfonic acid (AMPS). Methods: The new formulation was named PAMPSGAT. The MRI response (R2) of the dosimeters was analyzed for conditions of varying dose, dose rate, and temperature during scanning. Radiological properties of the PAMPSGAT polymer gel dosimeter were investigated. Results: The dose-response (R2) of AMPS/Bis appears to be linear over a dose range 10-40 Gy. The percentage of difference between the R2 values for imaging at 15 degrees C and MRI room temperature is about 4.6% for vial with 40 Gy absorbed dose which decreased to less than 1% for imaging at 20 degrees C. The percentage difference of Zeff of PAMPSGAT gel and soft tissue was less than 1% in the practical energy range (100 KeV-100 MeV). The electron density of the PAMPSGAT polymer gel was 2.9% higher than that of muscle. Results showed that the sensitivity of PAMPSGAT polymer gel dosimeter irradiated by Co-60 (energy = 1.25 MeV) is about 27.7% higher than that of irradiated using a 6 MeV Linac system. Conclusions: Temperature during MRI scanning has a small effect on the R2 response of the PAMPSGAT polymer gel dosimeter. Results confirmed tissue equivalency of the PAMPSGAT polymer gel dosimeter in most practical energy range. The PAMPSGAT polymer gel dosimeter response depends on energy and dose rate.