The aim of external beam radiotherapy is to deliver a prescribed dose to a target volume accurately and uniformly while sparing the surrounding healthy tissue. In radiation dosimetry calculations, many functions are employed to achieve this goal, and the Peak Scatter Factor (PSF) is one of the fundamental functions used in dosimetry. / A brief background of some of the basic physics employed in external beam radiotherapy is given, illustrating some of the applications of the PSF in dosimetry. Also, the evolution of the definition of the PSF is discussed by presenting the PSF definitions quoted in several dosimetric references. In addition, concerns debated among physicists regarding the consistency of tabulated values of the PSF in dosimetric references with the definition of the PSF are presented. / A practical method for measuring the PSF for megavoltage photon beams is developed. The method is applied to Co-60, 6 MV, 10 MV, and 18 MV photon beams using water, polytyrene, and solid water phantoms. The measured PSFs are compared to tabulated PSF and Normalized Peak Scatter Factors (NPSF) published in the British Journal of Radiology (BJR), supplement 25.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.30335 |
| Date | January 1999 |
| Creators | Abdel-Rahman, Wamied. |
| Contributors | Podgorsak, Erwin B. (advisor) |
| Publisher | McGill University |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Coverage | Master of Science (Department of Medical Radiation Physics.) |
| Rights | All items in eScholarship@McGill are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated. |
| Relation | alephsysno: 001740665, proquestno: MQ64311, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest. |
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