Synthetic polymer hydrogels as potential tissue phantoms in radiation therapy and dosimetry

The efficacy of synthetic polymers as hydrogel phantoms for radiation therapy and dosimetry has been investigated for photon and charged particle (electron, proton and alpha particle) interactions. Tissue equivalence has been studied in terms of photon mass energy-absorption coefficients, KERMA (kinetic energy released per unit mass), equivalent atomic number and energy absorption build-up factors, relative to human tissues (skin, soft tissue, cortical bone and skeletal muscle), in the energy range 0.015–15 MeV. For charged particle interactions, ratio of effective atomic number is examined for tissue-equivalence in the energy region of 10 keV–1 GeV. Well established theoretical formulations are used for computation of photon mass-energy absorption effective atomic number, electron density and KERMA. Five-parameter geometric progression (G-P) fitting approximation is used to compute the values of energy absorption build-up factors. Effective atomic number for charged particle interaction is determined using logarithmic interpolation method. Using the analytical methodology, it has been revealed that all the selected synthetic polymers have good tissue-equivalence relative to all tissue except cortical bone. In particular, polyglycolic acid (PGA) and poly-lactic-co-glycolic acid (PLGA) prove to be best substitute material for photon interactions. On the other hand, % difference between effective atomic number for charged particle relative to human tissues is found least for polyethylene glycol (PEG) demonstrating adequate tissue-equivalence. Therefore, the present study is expected to be useful to choose most appropriate phantom material for radiation therapy.