Abstract
Purpose:
To experimentally determine the influence of atmospheric oxygen on the efficiency of the PRESAGE dosimeter and its reporting system.
Methods:
Batches of the reporting system – a mixture of chloroform and leuchomalachite green dye – and PRESAGE were prepared in aerobic and anaerobic conditions. For anaerobic batches, samples were deoxygenated by bubbling nitrogen through the dosimeter precursors or reporting system for 10 min. The dosimeters and reporting systems were prepared in spectrophotometric cuvettes and glass vials, respectively, and were irradiated with 6 MV photons to various radiation doses using a clinical linear accelerator. Changes in optical density of the dosimeters and reporting system before and after irradiation were measured using a spectrophotometer. In addition, the concentrations of dissolved oxygen were measured using a dissolved oxygen meter.
Results:
The experiments revealed that oxygen has little influence on the characteristics of PRESAGE, with the radical initiator oxidizing the leucomalachite green even in the presence of oxygen. However, deoxygenation of the reporting system leads to an increase in sensitivity to radiation dose by ∼ 30% when compared to the non‐deoxygenated system. A slight improvement in sensitivity (∼ 5%) was also achieved by deoxygenating the PRESAGE precursor prior to casting. Measurement of the dissolved oxygen revealed low levels (0.4 ppm) in the polyurethane precursor used to fabricate the dosimeters, as compared to water (8.6 ppm). In addition, deoxygenation had no effect on the retention of the post‐response absorption value of the PRESAGE dosimeter.
Conclusion:
The results suggest that the presence of oxygen does not inhibit the radiochromic properties of the PRESAGE system. In addition, there were no observed changes in the dose linearity, absorption spectrum and post‐response photofading characteristics of the PRESAGE under the conditions investigated.