A modified Fricke gel dosimeter for fast electron blood dosimetry

It has been suggested for more than forty years that blood and blood components be irradiated before allogeneic transfusions for immunosuppressed patients in order to avoid the Transfusion-Associated Graft-versus-Host Disease (TA-GVHD). Whole blood, red blood cells, platelets and granulocytes may have viable T cells and should be irradiated before transfusion for different patient clinical conditions. According to international guides, absorbed doses from 25 up to 50 Gy should be delivered to the central middle plane of each blood bag. Although gamma and X-rays from radiotherapy equipments and dedicated cell irradiators are commonly used for this purpose, electron beams from Linear Accelerators (LINACs) could be used as well. In this work, we developed a methodology able to acquire dosimetric data from blood irradiations, especially after fast electrons exposures. This was achieved using a proposed Fricke Xylenol Gel (FXG(p)) dosimeter, which presents closer radiological characteristics (attenuation coefficients and stopping-powers) to the whole blood, as well as complete absorbed dose range linearity. The developed methodology and the FXG(p) dosimeter were also able to provide isodose curves and field profiles for the irradiated samples. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.