Benoit, J., Pruitt, A.F., & Thrall, D.E. (2009). Effect of wetness level on the suitability of wet gauze as a substitute for Superflab as a bolus material for use with 6 mv photons. Veterinary Radiology & Ultrasound: the Official Journal of the American College of Veterinary Radiology and the International Veterinary Radiology Association, 50 (5), 555-9.
Benoit, Pruitt, and Thrall studies if a wet washcloth or gauze has the same photon absorption ability as Superflab and compares the effect of an air gap between tissue equivalent bolus and skin. The researchers have independent variables of two 1.0cm thick Superflab and wet gauze materials; also two 0.5cm thick SuperFlab and wet gauze materials all with surface areas of 15.5cm x 15cm. They…show more content… The researchers compare the combination of dressing and paraffin against other well-known tissue equivalent boluses, such as Superflab, by testing the dosage using a phantom to represent human tissue. They measure the ability of the combination using a linear accelerator with electron energies of 6,9,12, and 16MEV and photon energies of 6MV and 10MV. Dressing and liquid paraffin at lower energies were closer in surface dosage than at higher energies; however the difference between the high and low energies is not significant enough to determine preference over another. Rykers and Trenkner decide that the combination of the dressing and liquid paraffin is around 1.2 times the geometric thickness of tissue equivalence for all…show more content… Vyas, Palmer, Mudge, Jiang, Fleck, Schaly, Osei, and Charland notes that photons invade the skin surface to irradiate tissues, organs, and bones; therefore to treat more superficial lesions one would need a tissue equivalent material to mock the beam into believing that it has invaded the skin surface before it actually reaches the skin. They on to defining exactly what a bolus is and of what materials can be used as a tissue equivalent material. The researchers describe that materials such as wet gauzes, wash clothes, metals, and a variety of other mixtures and compounds can be used a bolus. The authors conclude by acknowledging that even though technology has grown in the medical field making boluses in a clinical setting is an art and there are various ways to obtain the
