Blood irradiation with accelerator produced electron beams

Blood and blood products are irradiated with gamma rays to reduce the risk of graft versus host disease (GVHD). A simple technique using electron beam s produced by a medical linear accelerator has been studied to evaluate irr adiation of blood and blood products. Variations in applied doses for a sin gle field 20 MeV electron beam are measured in a phantom study. Doses have been verified with ionization chambers and commercial diode detectors. Resu lts show that the blood product volume can be given a relatively homogeneou s dose to within 6% using 20 MeV electrons without the need to rotate the b lood bags or the beam entry point. The irradiation process takes approximat ely 6.5 minutes for 30 Gy applied dose to complete as opposed to 12 minutes fora dual field x-ray field irradiation at our centre. Electron beams can be used to satisfactorily irradiate blood and blood products in a minimal a mount of time.