Verification of high dose rate 192Ir source position during brachytherapy treatment

A system for in vivo tracking of 1 Ci Ir-192 source during brachytherapy treatment has been built using high resistivity silicon pad detectors as image sensors and knife-edge lead pinholes as collimators. The sensors consist of 256 pads arranged in 32 x 8 grid with pad size 1.4 x 1.4 mm(2) and 1 mm thickness. The sensors have two metal layers, enabling connection of readout electronics (VATAGP3_1 chips) at the edge of the detector. With source self-images obtained from a dual-pinhole system, location of the source can be reconstructed in three dimensions in real time, allowing on-line detection of deviations from planned treatment. The system was tested with 1 Ci Ir-192 clinical source in air and plexi-glass phantom. The movements of the source could be tracked in a field of view of approximately 20 x 20 x 20 cm(3) with absolute precision of about 5 mm. Positions of the source, relative to the first measured source position, could be mapped with precision of around 3 mm. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.