Some practical aspects of dosimetry and dose specification for whole body irradiation

The objectives of dosimetry and dose administration concern the specification of the temporal and spatial distribution of the energy deposition at a macroscopic and microscopic level. It is evident that the experimental techniques and the required dosimetric accuracy vary greatly depending on the application. However, the planning of an experiment and the choice of a method of measuring and reporting dosimetric parameters should follow certain general principles to insure that an optimum amount of information is made available. Complete specification of dosimetric parameters may be quite important to an individual wishing to use radiobiological data in an attempt to establish correlations or to test a hypothesis, and neither insufficient dose specification nor uncertainties with respect to accuracy should limit such efforts. Dosimetry should be considered an essential part of experimental design before radiobiological experiments are started, since often seemingly minor modifications may result in simplified and more accurate dosimetry and irradiation arrangements yielding complex or unusual radiation patterns can be avoided.