Volume Dose in Radiotherapy

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Abstract
The work of the physicists in connection with volume dose has been magnificent. The initial contributions of Mayneord (1940) and Happey (1941), attacking the same problem in different ways, made possible estimates of volume dose under ideal physical conditions and with certain limitations. The conditions were those of a water phantom of infinite area, and the limitation that the beam should be completely enclosed by the phantom. These conditions, however, did not give an exact estimate because of the loss of back-scatter at the exit port of the beam of X rays. The ideal “physical” patient would be made entirely of water, and even under these conditions, from the point of view of estimates of volume dose based on calculations from depth dose measurements, the human shape is far from the ideal for physical purposes. However, these difficulties have been overcome by Mayneord and Clarkson (1944), who made measurements on a wax man for estimating the volume dose received by the whole body under certain physical conditions, and by Grimmett (unpublished) who after much mental labour brought his ionization chamber man into the world and has brought him up to behave as he should. The result is that we have now methods of measuring volume dose as well as calculating it, so that we can express the total energy absorbed by a patient made of water or wax as a single figure.

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