Abstract

Cerenkov light emission from MeV gamma-ray and electron beam delivery has recently been shown to be detectable and could be used in some applications for 3D dosimetry in radiation therapy in water tanks[1-3] or 2D surface dosimetry in humans[4, 5]. The major potential benefit of Cerenkov imaging is that it is a way to image beams in real time with several frames per second. As such, it is feasible to image treatment beams dynamically, and create composite visualizations of the treatment plans. This imaging can be used to verify new treatment plans prior to application to patients, or to quickly verify new machines, or testing in situations where access is limited. The strength of this optical imaging is that it is simple to implement, and provides immediate feedback. The drawbacks are related to minor differences between Cerenkov emission and dose, which make it not an exact measurement of dose.

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