Comparative study of polyacrylamid gels and thermoluminescent dosimeters used in external radiotherapy

Polyacrylamid gels were used in the presence of radiation field heterogeneities, using 60Co. The polyacrylamid gels were compared with thermoluminescence dosimeters inside a polyvinylidene fluoride phantom. The latter presents a density close to bone and a volume similar to that of a human skull. The dimensions of the phantom do not allow the simple use of ionisation chambers, and therefore we opted for thermoluminescent dosimeters of the type “GR200A”, and for Monte-Carlo simulations. The results obtained under identical conditions inside the phantom showed good agreement between these different methods.