Comparison of the Radiation Dose Absorbed to the Testes of Men Undergoing Pelvis Radiotherapy for Cancer

BACKGROUND:
The objective of this study was to measure the radiation dose absorbed by testes in those men receiving pelvic radiotherapy in order to provide appropriate shielding.

METHODS:
Thermo luminescence dosimeter (TLD) which is in small tablet forms was used for this study. Patients were selected and were advised of the procedure. The TLD tablets were positioned in the appropriate places over the gonads and then the absorbed dose was determined. In this study the correlations between the absorbed dose of the gonads and factors such as the radiotherapy system energy, variation in the source skin distance (SSD) of the instrument, the pelvic area and the radiation direction were determined.

FINDINGS:
Results showed significant association of the radiotherapy system energy, SSD variation, and pelvic area with the absorbed dose of the gonads (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSION:
Our findings show that in pelvic radiotherapy the gonads are exposed to high radiation energy. This is an important issue for young men in order to protect their fertility. Therefore, it is very important to protect the gonads from the ionizing radiation with the best possible shielding.

KEY WORDS:
Absorbed dose, testis, cancer, pelvis radiotherapy