Modern radiation therapy has been a rapidly evolving field over the last decade, involving increasingly sophisticated treatment planning and delivery options. Conventional one- and two-dimensional dosimetry tools such as ion chambers, diodes, arrays, film, etc, available in the clinic are well suited to regular quality assurance. However, there are particular circumstances where a three-dimensional (3D) dosimeter would be useful for spatial dose verification of sophisticated new dose deliveries. Gel dosimetry is a promising candidate for 3D dose measurements of complex new treatment techniques and for process quality assurance, but has not been employed clinically, for a number of reasons. In this work, we complete a basic characterization of a fast cone-beam optical CT scanner (the Vista™ cone-beam CCD-based optical scanner) for 3D readout of optically absorbing gel dosimeters. Focused development of this optical readout tool promises to improve the accessibility and ease of use of gel dosimetry in the clinical environment.

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