The Real-Time Dose Measurement Scintillating Fiber Array for Brachytherapy Procedures

Brachytherapy is a treatment modality that uses tiny radioactive sources (few mm in length) by delivering enough doses to kill cancer tumors or plaque build-up. The type of sources used in hospitals include both gamma and beta emitters. Presently, the technique suffers from not having a single detector with the capability of providing accurate dose distribution information within sub-mm accuracy. The current standard is based primarily on well chambers and film dosimetry. The Center for Advanced Medical Instrumentation (CAMI) at Hampton University is developing a Scintillating Fiber Based Beta Detector prototype in collaboration with the National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST) to address this problem. The device is composed of an array of 1x1 \textbf{mm}$^{2}$ scintillating fibers optically coupled to photo-multiplier tubes for photon-to-current conversion. A CAMAC LabView based data acquisition system is used for real time data collection and histogramming, data analysis. A set of data were collected at the nearby Bon Secours DePaul Medical Center using a GammaMed 12i HDR after-loader housing a 6.62 mCi Ir-192 source. Preliminary comparison between our device and film dosimetry will be discussed.