Gunjanaporn Tochaikul. Determination of radiation dose from Ruthenium-106/Rhodium-106 plaque for radiation safety in ophthalmic brachytherapy. Master's Degree(Medical Physics). Mahidol University. Mahidol University Library and Knowledge Center. : Mahidol University, 2019.
Determination of radiation dose from Ruthenium-106/Rhodium-106 plaque for radiation safety in ophthalmic brachytherapy
Abstract:
Recently, the ruthenium-106/rhodium-106 (106Ru/106Rh) eye plaque has been increasingly used in the ophthalmic brachytherapy. 106Ru is a pure beta emitter while its daughter, 106Rh, emits gamma and beta during its decay process. Consequently, bremsstrahlung can be generated, thus resulting in the increased radiation exposure of the staff. The objectives of this study were then to determine the radiation doses on the workers from 106Ru/106Rh plaque using the high purity germanium (HPGe) detector and the Monte Carlo (MC) simulation and to compare the radiation doses between the two approaches as well as to assess the safety of 106Ru/106Rh ophthalmic brachytherapy. The count rates and spectrum of the 106Ru/106Rh plaque which was placed on the RANDO phantom eye area both with and without a 1 mm lead cover were determined by the calibrated HPGe detector with the optimal counting time and distance. An input file for a transport code, Monte Carlo N-Particle version 5 (MCNP5), which had been properly configured to simulate the HPGe detector was used to calculate the count rates and the spectrum of 106Ru/106Rh plaque with the same geometry to that of the experimental measurement. Then, the radiation doses of the ophthalmic brachytherapy were calculated based on the routine clinical condition. The results showed that the optimal counting time and distance were 25 min and 15 cm respectively. The count rate and the spectrum of 106Ru/106Rh plaque from the measurement was decreased about 39% when the lead shielding was added. The spectra from the simulation and the measurement were in a good agreement; however, the count rates from the simulation were observed to be 1.45 times and 1.59 times higher than those from the measurement with and without a lead shield. Furthermore, the simulations revealed that the highest and the lowest radiation doses to the staff were 3.1513 μSv/hr/MBq at the center of the plaque position and 0.0001 μSv/hr/MBq at the contralateral side, respectively. In the operating room, the estimated radiation dose to the eye lens was 1.428 μSv/procedure and the finger was 34.146 μSv/procedure. Meanwhile, the eye lens dose and finger dose were 3.332 and 79.674 μSv/procedure in the patient's room. In summary, the study demonstrated the photon radiation emitted by the 106Ru/106Rh plaque can be determined by both the HPGe detector and the MCNP5 simulation. The similar trend and slightly difference of the 106Ru/106Rh spectrum between the two approaches was observed. In addition, this study suggested that the 106Ru/106Rh plaque ophthalmic brachytherapy procedure was a safe procedure for the staff based on the dose limit to the eye lens and fingers according to the recommendation by International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) 118.