A new scintillating fiber dosimeter using a single optical fiber and a CCD camera

Radiotherapy treatments become more and more accurate, using very small irradiation fields and complex dose depositions. So small dosimeters for real time and in vivo dosimetry, suitable for photons as well as for electrons beams are highly desired. In this context, a scintillating fiber dosimeter (SFD) has been developed by the Laboratoire de Physique Corpusculaire de Caen (LPC Caen), France, in collaboration with one of the French regional center for cancer treatment Centre Regional de lutte contre le cancer F. Baclesse (CRLCC F. Baclesse), Caen, France, and the ELDIM Company, Herouville, France. This plastic dosimeter is water equivalent, and it is suitable for photons as well as for electrons beams without correction. It is a real time dosimeter, with an excellent signal to noise ratio, and a spatial resolution of about a few millimeters. The aim of this study was to reduce the size of the scintillator in order to improve the spatial resolution of this dosimeter. So, a new light collection device has been developed to reduce the length of the scintillator from 1 cm to 1 mm without loss in the signal to noise ratio. The accuracy of this improved prototype has been tested by comparison with standard ionization chambers and the difference between the two devices never exceeded one percent for photon and for electron irradiation beams. A first set of commercial SFD is under completion at ELDIM and it will be soon clinically tested in several French centers for cancer treatment.