Year

2020

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

Department

School of Physics

Abstract

The use of diagnostic imaging services has been increasing significantly over recent decades as the availability and the sophistication of diagnostic imaging equipment has expanded. This has resulted in improved patient outcome through earlier and more accurate diagnoses at cost of increasing radiation exposure to the general populace. This may result in an increased incidence of radiation-induced conditions and cancer. Monitoring the radiation exposures during these procedures is crucial to preventing ra-diation induced conditions and minimising radiation exposure both to patients and to operators of radiation imaging technologies where possible. This thesis investigated the applications of the MOSkin dosimeter, in clinical diagnostic procedures. The MOSkin provides advantages over traditional dosimetry solutions by providing minimal beam perturbation, the ability to measure doses in real-time, exhibiting radio-transparency in images acquired by diagnostic beam qualities and by allowing users to measure dose delivered at water-equivalent depths of 0.07 mm and 3 mm, depths representative of radiation induced damage to the patient’s skin and eyes. The aims of this thesis were to comprehensively characterise the dosimeter for use in kilovoltage range x-ray beam qualities, establish clinical applications, specifically in angiographic catheterisa- tion laboratories, to develop dose minimisation strategies in clinic, to assess vendor implemented upgrades in clinic and to identify the specifications needed for develop- ing future diagnostic dosimetry solutions. By addressing these aims, this thesis has produced a compelling argument for broader clinical adoption of diagnostic dosimetry solutions, has confirmed the efficacy of the MOSkin dosimeter in measuring diagnostic patient doses, has enabled the development of more sophisticated dose minimisation strategies in clinics, has improved upon existing standards for comparing c-arm system hardware performance by implementing simultaneous measurement of several metrics for both image quality and dose delivery performance and has formed a prospective study into development of an operator specific dosimetry solution.

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Unless otherwise indicated, the views expressed in this thesis are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of the University of Wollongong.