Fabrication and Optimization of a PAGATA Gel Dosimeter: Increasing the Melting Point of the PAGAT Gel Dosimeter with Agarose Additive

Document Type : Original Paper

Authors

1 Instructor, Medical Radiation Engineering Dept, Faculty of Engineering, Borujerd Islamic Azad University, Borujerd, Iran.

2 Associate Professor, Shahid Beheshti University, Evin, Tehran, Iran

3 Associate Professor, Nuclear Engineering Dept, Faculty of Engineering, Shiraz University, Shiraz, Iran.

4 M.Sc. in Medical Physics, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran

Abstract

Introduction: The PAGAT polymer gel dosimeter melts at 30 ˚C and even at room temperature during the summer, so it needs to be kept in a cool place such as a refrigerator. To increase the stability of the PAGAT gel, different amounts of agarose were added to the PAGAT gel composition and the PAGATA gel was manufactured.
Material and Methods: The PAGATA gel vials were irradiated using a Co-60 machine. Then, the samples were evaluated using a 1.5 T Siemens MRI scanner. The ingredients of the PAGATA normoxic gel dosimeter were 4.5% N-N' methylen-bis-acrylamide, 4.5% acrylamide, 4.5% gelatine, 5 mM tetrakis (THPC), 0.01 mM hydroquinone (HQ), 0.5% agarose and 86% de-ionized water (HPLC).
Results: Melting point and sensitivity of the PAGAT gel dosimeter with addition of 0.0, 0.3, 0.5, 1.0, 1.5 and 2.0% of agarose were measured, in which the melting points were increased to 30, 82, 86, 88, 89 and 90°C and their sensitivities found to be 0.113, 0.1059, 0.125, 0.122, 0.115 and 0.2  respectively.
Discussion and Conclusions: Adding agarose increased the sensitivity and background R2 of the evaluated samples. The optimum amount of agarose was found to be 0.5% regarding these parameters and also the melting point of the gel dosimeter. A value of 0.5% agarose was found to be an optimum value considering the increase of sensitivity to 0.125 and melting point to 86°C but at the expense of increasing the background R2 to 4.530.

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