Optical CT scanner for in-air readout of gels for external radiation beam 3D dosimetry.

Optical CT scanners for a 3D readout of externally irradiated radiosensitive hydrogels currently require the use of a refractive index (RI) matching liquid bath to obtain suitable optical ray paths through the gel sample to the detector. The requirement for a RI matching liquid bath has been negated by the design of a plastic cylindrical gel container that provides parallel beam geometry through the gel sample for the majority of the projection. The design method can be used for various hydrogels. Preliminary test results for the prototype laser beam scanner with ferrous xylenol-orange gel show geometric distortion of 0.2 mm maximum, spatial resolution limited to beam spot size of about 0.4 mm and 0.8% noise (1 SD) for a uniform irradiation. Reconstruction of a star pattern irradiated through the cylinder walls demonstrates the suitability for external beam applications. The extremely simple and cost-effective construction of this optical CT scanner, together with the simplicity of scanning gel samples without RI matching fluid increases the feasibility of using 3D gel dosimetry for clinical external beam dose verifications.