Study fricke gel dosimeter response for different gel quality

Abstract

The Fricke xylenol gel (FXG) dosimeter has been studied for application in radiotherapy because it is capable of to measure the spatial distribution of radiation doses. The dosimetry is based on the oxidation of ferrous (Fe2+) to ferric (Fe3+) ions radiation induced, related to the radiation dose. The gel material usually employed is the 300 Bloom gelatin, which is imported and very expensive in Brazil. Aiming to analyze the viability of to use a locally produced and low cost gel material, in this work the spectrophotometric responses of FXG solutions prepared using 270 Bloom gelatin commercially available and 300 Bloom gelatin imported were compared. The absorption spectra of solutions prepared with 5% by weight 270 and 300 Bloom gelatins non-irradiated and irradiated with 60Co gamma radiation in the dose range between 0.5 and 100 Gy were analysed, the dose-response curves were evaluated and the useful dose range was established. The obtained results indicate that the FXG solution prepared with 270 Bloom gelatin presents good performance, similar to that presented by the FXG solution prepared with 300 Bloom gelatin and its use can be recommended owing to the low cost and the availability in local market.