Fiber optic dosimeter with silicon photomultipliers

A small dimension, real-time readout dosimeter is desirable for specific applications in medical physics as for example, dose measurement in prostate brachytherapy. This particular radiotherapy procedure consists in the permanent deposition of low energy, low-dose and low-dose rate small sized radioactive seeds. We developed a scintillating fiber optic based dosimeter suitable for in-vivo, real-time low dose and low dose rate measurements. Due to the low scintillation light produced in the scintillating fiber, a high sensitive and high gain light detector is required. The Silicon Photomultipliers are an interesting option that allowed us to obtain good results in our studies.