DOSM 315 - Physics for Medical Dosimetry I

5 CR

Explores the fundamentals of radiation therapy physics and safety with special attention to nuclear transformations and decay, x-ray production, radiation generators, interactions of ionizing radiation, x-ray beam quality, measurement of absorbed dose, dose distribution and scatter analysis.

Prerequisite(s): Acceptance into the program.

Course Outcomes

Calculate the decay constant, mean and half-life of a radioactive source.
Identify internal structure of an x-ray tube and identify the two different mechanisms by which x-rays are produced.
Identify key components and differential mechanisms between current linear accelerator technology and historical delivery units.
Define the difference between transmission and geometric penumbra and be able to calculate geometric penumbra.
Define the terms attenuation and linear attenuation coefficients and apply these terms to Half and Tenth Value Layers. Discuss the limitations to HVL alone as a measure of beam quality in superficial and orthovoltage range units. Calculate the HVL for a radiation beam.
Discuss the differences between coherent scattering, photoelectric effect, Compton effect, pair production and annihilation radiation and their associated energy ranges.
Calculate the incident photon energy, scattered photon energy or scattered electron energy for Compton interaction.
Describe the dependence of various interactions on atomic number.
Calculate equivalent attenuation using electron density across multiple mediums.
Define the stem effect and the two root causes for this effect.
Define the unit of measurement, the Roentgen, its relationship to electronic equilibrium within a free-air ionization chamber and calculate the exposure in Roentgens for a field of radiation.
Define the relationship between kerma, exposure and absorbed dose.
Calculate dose to any medium using the f-factor and define the change in the f-factor as function of energy.
Analyze the TG-21 and TG-51 recommendations for absorbed dose measurements and calibration.
Identify Radiation Safety Protocols for storage and transportation of radioactive sources, Shielding Design, Regulations and Radiation Safety Committees.
Calculate the temperature and pressure correction for exposure measurement.
Calculate the dose to a prescribed depth using Percentage Depth Dose (PDD) charts. Define the relationship between the TAR and PDD for a given beam. Calculate the Tissue-Air Ratio (TAR) for a given clinical field size and depth. Define the relationship between the Backscatter Factor and TAR.
Calculate the equivalent square for an irregular field size, Scatter-Air Ratio using TAR data and define Clarkson Method.

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