MCDANIEL COLLEGE STUDENT RESEARCH AT THE

NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF STANDARDS AND TECHNOLOGY (NIST)

Several Physics majors at McDaniel College have participated in a thermoluminescence research project at the National Institute of Science and Technology (in Gaithersburg, MD). The project is in the field of BRACHYTHERAPY, and it is a scientific collaboration between Dr. Pagonis from McDaniel College, and Dr. Chris Soares of the Ionizing Radiation Division at NIST, in Gaithersburg, Maryland.

The collaborative project consists of extending Dr. Soares' dosimetric measurements in brachytherapy using thermoluminescence.

WHAT IS BRACHYTHERAPY?

Brachytherapy is the use of radioactive materials emitting photons and/or beta particles, in a variety of medical applications. Brachytherapy involves the placement of small sealed radioactive sources directly in or near a tumor or lesion.

Applications of Brachytherapy include:
     ** The treatment of eye lesions
     ** Photon "seed" implants for the treatment of prostate cancer
     ** Intravascular sources for the irradiation of artery walls to prevent re-closing of the arteries after balloon angioplasty.

Dr. Soares has performed previously dosimetry measurements using the NIST extrapolation chamber and radiochromic dye film. The purpose of our project is to extend and compare these previous measurements using the technique of thermoluminescence.

MCDANIEL COLLEGE STUDENT RESEARCH AT NIST

Chris Drupieski, Class of 2004, spent 10 weeks during the summer of 2002 working at NIST under a grant from the SURF program of the National Science Foundation. Brian Wingert and Garey Pritchett, Class of 2004, also spent several weeks during their January term, doing research at NIST on this project.

The above McDaniel students were able to calibrate several types of Lithium Fluoride LiF thermoluminescent dosimeters shown above.
Here is a typical TL glow curve measured at NIST using the above LiF TL dosimeters.

* The students were also able to calibrate an X-ray source using the above thermoluminescence dosimeters. This X-ray source is used for brain surgery, and it is shown below.

This research is being presented at the 2004 International Conference of Solid State Dosimetry, at Yale University in June 2004.

The students are co-authors in the paper, which is entitled:

"Absorbed Dose Measurements of a Handheld 50-kV X-ray Source in Water with Thermoluminescence Dosimeters".

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