Dosimetry of blood irradiation with radiochromic film

It has been shown that radiochromic film is an ideal dosimeter for assessme nt and verification of delivered dose to irradiated blood products. Using a parallel opposing two-field technique on a medical linear accelerator, blo od is irradiated to diminish the risk of transfusion-associated graft vs, h ost disease (TA-GVHD). The blood products are irradiated in a Perspex blood box to an applied dose of 29.5-31.7 Gy. Verification of applied dose has b een performed with thimble ionization chambers and radiochromic film. Radio chromic film results have matched absorbed dose measurements from ionizatio n chambers at all sites within the 'active' treatment volume within +/- 6% for a 95% confidence limit. Using a sample of 100 in-vitro measurements, ra diochromic film has measured the average applied dose to blood products to be 30.95 +/- 2.6 Gy for two standard deviations. Like currently available ' irradiated' film labels, the radiochromic film also serves as a visible rem inder that the blood products have been irradiated.