Three-dimensional gel dosimetry for dose volume histogram verification in compensator-based IMRT

Background: some tissues in human body are radiobiologically different from water and these inhomogeneity must be considered in dose calculation in order to achieve an accurate dose delivery. dose verification in complex radiation therapy techniques, such as intensity-modulated radiation therapy (imrt) calls for volumetric, tissue equivalent and energy independent dosimeter. the purpose of this study is to verify a compensator-based imrt plan in anthropomorphic inhomogeneous phantom by dose volume histograms (dvh) using polymer gel dosimetry. materials and methods: an anthropomorphic pelvic phantom was constructed with places for gel inserts. two attached cubic inserts for prostate and bladder and a cylindrical insert for rectum. a prostate treatment case was simulated in the phantom and the treatment was delivered by a five field compensator-based imrt. gel dosimeters were scanned by a 1.5 tesla magnetic resonance imaging (mri). results were analyzed by dvh and difference of differential dvh. results: results showed for 3d compensator-based imrt treatment plan for prostate cancer, there was overall good agreement between calculated dose distributions and the corresponding gel measured especially in planning target volume (ptv) region. conclusion: our measurements showed that the used treatment plan configuration has had clinically acceptable accuracy and gel dosimetry can be considered as a useful tool for measuring dvh. it may also be used for quality assurance and compensator-based imrt treatment verification.