Intermediate
Technical
IVT
scatter dose
Radiation dose received by tissues outside the primary beam due to photon scattering within the patient and treatment head.
Full Definition
Scatter dose refers to radiation exposure that occurs outside the primary treatment field due to Compton scattering of photons within the patient's body and the linear accelerator treatment head. This includes both patient scatter (internal scatter within tissues) and head leakage scatter from the treatment machine. Scatter dose contributes to whole-body radiation exposure and must be considered when calculating doses to organs at risk located outside the treatment field. The magnitude of scatter dose depends on field size, beam energy, patient thickness, and distance from the field edge.
In Context
- "Scatter dose to the contralateral breast was estimated at 2.3 Gy." — Dosimetric analysis
- "Field size reduction minimized scatter dose to surrounding organs." — Treatment planning optimization
Also known as
scattered radiation
leakage dose
Contrasted with
primary dose
Don't confuse with
stray radiation
secondary dose