The Alderson Radiation Therapy Phantom

ACCURATE ORGAN DOSIMETRY MEASUREMENTS WITH MINIMAL DOSIMETERS

  • Approximately 10,000 phantoms in use all over the world for 30 years
  • Indispensable quality-assurance tool
  • Molded of tissue-equivalent material

The Alderson Radiation Therapy (ART) Phantom is a refined and improved version of the Alderson RANDO Phantom in both design and materials. ART Phantoms are designed within highly sophisticated technological constraints and follow ICRU-44 standards. Additionally, they provide integrated tests of the entire chain of treatment planning and delivery.

ART Phantoms are molded of tissue-equivalent material and designed for accuracy and ease of use.

Anatomy


The male ART represents a 175 cm (5 ft. 9 in.) tall, 73.5 kg (162 lb.) male, and the female ART represents a 155 cm (5 ft. 1 in.) tall, 50 kg (110 lb.) female.

The ART Phantom is transected-horizontally into 2.5 cm thick slices. Each slice has holes which are plugged with bone-equivalent, soft-tissue-equivalent or lung tissue equivalent pins which can be replaced by TLD holder pins. Holder pins may be ordered separately.

Soft-tissue-equivalent coatings produce slices with glass smooth interfaces. These coatings are cut away over the air spaces of the oronasal pharynges, trachea, and stem bronchi. Dosimetry holes are drilled in grids 3 cm x 3 cm or 1.5 cm x 1.5 cm in 5 and 7 mm diameters thereby allowing for detailed measurements of dose distributions.

Breast Attachments


Breasts are available in various sizes. They can be sliced in frontal planes, drilled or undrilled for film dosimetry. Slices can receive any of the pins listed in the TLD Dosimeters and Fittings section, below. Breasts of male and female ART Phantoms are contoured to blend realistically with the thoraxes and attached with nylon screws. The male chest with attached breasts serves as a large female.

Materials


Soft Tissues: There are unlimited, small variations in density and absorption throughout the human body. Phantom soft tissue is closely controlled to have the average density of these tissues.

Skeletons: RSD skeletons are highly detailed polymer moldings which reproduce the shape, mass density and attenuation coefficients of cortical bone and spongiosa. This allows for continuous production of phantoms, instead of the sporadic production required by the limited availability, variable size and uncertain chemical composition of human skeletons. Our proprietary moldings allow for continuous production, eliminate the restrictions of human skeleton bones (including limited availability, variable size, and uncertain chemical composition), and avoid the loss of marrows in dried natural skeletons thereby making RSD skeletons superior to “real bone.”

Molds for the RSD cortical bone and spongiosa were made from human skeletons consistent with the sizes of the soft tissue molds.

RSD skeletons conform closely to the standards established by the International Commission on Radiation Units and Measurements (ICRU Report No. 44); mass density is reduced slightly to take into account a small decrease in calcium content for older patients.

Lungs: Lungs are molded from syntactic foam, with a specific gravity of 0.30 g/cc.

TLD Dosimeters and Fittings


Phantoms are shipped with all dosimetry holes filled with blank pins. Pins for TLD chips have recesses at one end measuring 3.2 x 3.2 x 0.9 mm. Pins for TLD rods have 1 mm-diameter holes cross-drilled at the centers of the pins. All pins are 2.50 cm long unless otherwise specified. Pins may also be ordered to accommodate various types of OSLD dosimeters. Tissue equivalent plugs specifically machined for TLD chips, TLD rods, TLD bars, TLD cubes, MOSFET detectors, as well as LANDAUER® OSL MicroSTAR® and nanoDot® holders, are also available.

LANDAUER®, MicroSTAR®, and nanoDot® are registered trademarks of LANDAUER®, a division of Fluke® Corporation.

Assembly


ART Phantom slices are held between aluminum plates by nylon tie rods. Knobs at the end of the rods clamp the slices tightly in proper alignment. Both internal and external assembly devices are included.

The external assembly facilitates film dosimetry, while the internal assembly is used generally with TLDs or ion chamber dosimetry.

Order Requirements


Product Gender:
ART-250  |  Male Breasts
ART-350  |  Female Breasts

Volume:
There is poor correlation between clothing brassiere sizes and breast volumes. Breasts are specified according to this table:

SizeApproximate Clothing SizeVolume
2A200 ml
4B400 ml
6C600 ml
9D900 ml
12DD1200 ml

Sliced or Unsliced:
-S  |  Sliced
-U  |  Unsliced

Hole Grid:
-1.5  |  1.5cm x 1.5cm
-3.0  |  3.0cm x 3.0cm
-0  |  None

Hole Size:
-5  |  5mm Diameter
-7  |  7mm Diameter

Side:
-L  |  Left
-R  |  Right
-P  |  Pair

Example:
ART-250-4-S-3.0-7-P
Male Breast – 400ml – Sliced – 3.0cm x 3.0cm Grid – 7mm Diameter – Pair

Model Numbers


UNDRILLED3 cm x 3 cm GRID HOLE SPACING1.5 cm x 1.5 cm GRID HOLE SPACING
Male ART Phantom
(Sections 0-35)
ART-200XART-200ART-200A
Male ART Head and Neck Phantom
(Sections 0-9)
ART-210XART-210ART-210A
Male ART Chest Phantom
(Section 10-25)
ART-211XART-211ART-211A
Male ART Pelvis Phantom
(Sections 26-35)
ART-212XART-212ART-212A
Female ART Phantom
(Sections 0-32)
ART-300XART-300ART-300A
Female ART Head and Neck Phantom
(Sections 0-9)
ART-310XART-310ART-310A
Female ART Chest Phantom
(Sections 10-23)
ART-311XART-311ART-311A
Female ART Pelvis Phantom
(Sections 24-32)
ART-312XART-312ART-312A

Applications

  • Organ specific dosimetry for all dosimeters (TLD, OSL nanodots, MOSFET, film, ion chambers, and diodes)
  • Standard 3 cm x 3 cm or 1.5 cm x 1.5 cm hole grids for dosimeters
  • IMRT organ dose distributions

Modalities

  • External beams in the 0.04 to 40 MeV
  • Intensity-Modulated Radiation Therapy (IMRT)
  • Stereotactic Body Radiation Therapy (SBRT)
  • Gamma Knife
  • CyberKnife
  • CT
  • Cone Beam CT

Clinical Images


Publication References


 

Flatten V, Friedrich A, Engenhart-Cabillic R, Zink K. A Phantom Based Evaluation of the Dose Prediction and Effects in Treatment Plans, When Calculating on a Direct Density CT Reconstruction. J Appl Clin Med Phys. 2020 Mar;21(3):52-61. PMID: 32176455; PMCID: PMC7075385. DOI: 10.1002/acm2.12824

Hauri P, Schneider U. Whole-Body Dose Equivalent Including Neutrons is Similar for 6 MV and 15 MV IMRT, VMAT, and 3D Conformal Radiotherapy. J Appl Clin Med Phys. 2019 Mar;20(3):56-70. Epub 2019 Feb 21. PMID: 30791198; PMCID: PMC6414138. DOI: 10.1002/acm2.12543

Sawyer L J, Whittle S A, Matthews E S, Starritt H C, JUPP T P. Estimation of Organ and Effective Doses Resulting From Cone Beam CT Imaging for Radiotherapy Treatment Planning. British Journal of Radiology, Vol. 82, No. 979. 2014 Mar. DOI: 10.1259/bjr/62467578

Product Video & Assembly


 

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