Dosimetry of blood irradiation using an alanine/ESR dosimeter

A batch of 80 DL-alanine dosimeters was supplied to Hemocentro of the Hospi tal and Clinics of Faculdade de Medicina de Ribeirao Preto (HC-FMRP) SP, Br azil for the purpose of quality control of the radiation dose delivered to blood bags. The irradiation was made using two (40 x 40) cm(2) parallel opp osed radiation fields each with 80cm of source to surface distance in the R adiotherapy Section of HC-FMRP with the Co-60 teletherapy unit. The calcula ted radiation absorbed dose at the center of the box was 20 Gy. The dosimet er readings were performed using a Varian E-4 ESR Spectrometer operating in X-band. For the 80 dosimeters and over the irradiation volume throughout a blood bag, the minimum and maximum doses were 14 and 23 Gy, respectively. The mean dose was (18 +/- 2) Gy (1 sigma), and the coefficient of variabili ty was 11.1%. Alanine dosimeters demonstrated easy handling, good precision and adequate sensitivity for this application, (C) 2001 Elsevier Science L td. All rights reserved.