Simulation studies on the effect of absorbers on dose distribution in rotational radiotherapy

The effect of cylindrical protector dimensions, material and distance from the source on the dose distribution in rotational radiotherapy was studied to assess the potential protection possibilities of small-sized radiosensitive structures, such as spinal cord. The dose distributions were evaluated in terms of dose at the protected region and surface dose, ratio of the dose at the protected region to the maximum dose, and dose gradient. High-density materials, such as lead, tungsten, gold and cerrobend, along with new polymer–metal composite ones were used in simulation studies, performed by an in-house developed Monte Carlo Radiotherapy Simulator. To ensure correct modeling of the composite materials, simulated attenuation data were verified against experimentally measured data. The dependence of the dose at the protected region from the protector diameter and the field size was established. Protectors of higher density and larger diameter provide not only lower dose at the protected region, but also steeper dose gradient and lower ratio of the dose at the protected region to the treatment dose. For the protection of small structures, high-density protectors placed further from the source allow thicker protectors to be used. The surface dose increases insignificantly for the studied protector–surface distances. The results have shown that shielding properties of composite materials are close to those of lead.