Effects of water light absorption properties of a radiographic film.

Photon beam dosimetry using Kodak extended dose range (EDR2) radiographic film can provide accurate and high spatial resolution information especially for areas such as IMRT dosimetry where a higher dose level (100-400 cGy) is often required to be delivered for verification. For such dosimetry checks, it may sometimes be useful to place the film in a tank filled with water during irradiation. The effects of water on the film when packaged and when removed from the packaging have been examined. Results have shown that the EDR2 film when supplied in the ready pack form is provided in water proof packages and no significant absorption effects are observed or measured on the film even after 48 h of soaking in a water bath. When the film is removed from the ready packs and exposed to water directly, various effects are seen. In the visible spectrum region, small variations (up to 3%) in recorded optical density (OD) are recorded using a fluorescent light densitometer. These effects become much larger in the infrared region (e.g. 7.5% at 900 nm and 12.5% at 1000 nm) and are wavelength dependent. The changes produced by the water are relatively independent of the exposure time to water from 5 s up to 1 h or whether the water exposure occurred.