Potential clinical utility of a fibre optic-coupled dosemeter for dose measurements in diagnostic radiology

Many types of dosemeters have been investigated for absorbed dose measurements in diagnostic radiology, including ionisation chambers, metal-oxide semiconductor field-effect transistor dosemeters, thermoluminescent dosemeters, optically stimulated luminescence detectors, film and diodes. Each of the aforementioned dosemeters suffers from a critical limitation, either the need to interrogate, or read, the dosemeter to retrieve dose information or large size to achieve adequate sensitivity. This work presents an evaluation of a fibre optic-coupled dosemeter (FOCD) for use in diagnostic radiology dose measurement. This dosemeter is small, tissue-equivalent and capable of providing true real-time dose information. The FOCD has been evaluated for dose linearity, angular dependence, sensitivity and energy dependence at energies, beam qualities and beam quantities relevant to diagnostic radiology. The FOCD displayed excellent dose linearity and high sensitivity, while exhibiting minimal angular dependence of response. However, the dosemeter does exhibit positive energy dependence, and is subject to attenuation of response when bent.