Background: To study attenuation and increased skin dose for the iBEAM Standard couchtop, and attenuation of the BreastSTEP board, for an Elekta Compact 6 MV accelerator. Materials and Methods: Couchtop attenuation were measured for the range of gantry angles 125°-180° and field sizes 5×5-20×8 cm². H&N extension and the BreastSTEP attenuations measured in an 8×8 cm2 field. The couchtop effect on percentage depth-dose (PDD) measured by an EFD diode for field sizes 5×5-20×20 cm² and compared with that produced by a Co-60 beam passing through a ‘tennis-racket’ couch insert. A Monte Carlo (MC) model of the couchtop produced to provide more superficial PDDs. (PDDs that are more superficial) Results: Maximum couchtop attenuation (7.6%) measured for the 135° gantry and 5×5 cm² field. Couch extension attenuation was 1.5% lower. Adding BreastSTEP increased attenuation by 2.4%. MC attenuation results agreed with measurements to within 0.2%. The couchtop removed the dose buildup effect almost completely and increased the PDD at 0.4 mm depth by 60.6%-74.6%. MC-calculated PDDs at the depth range of skin basal cell layer (0.1-0.4 mm) increased by 55.3%-63.2%. The couch insert in the Co-60 beam increased the dose at 0.4 mm depth by 18.1%. For the same dose prescription at 10 cm depth, the insert in the Co-60 beam produced a skin dose 49.7% lower than the couchtop at 6 MV. Conclusion: These results provide useful practical data on attenuation and skin dose increase applicable to many centres. The accelerator-couchtop combination creates a greater skin dose increase than a tennis-racket insert on a Co-60 unit.

Background: The main aim of this study is to radiolabel dextran coated iron oxide nanoparticles (NPs) (with 80 nm hydrodynamic size) with the Indium-111 and evaluation their biodistribution after intravenous injection normal mice. Materials and Method: The chelator Diethylenetriamine Pentaacetic Acid (DTPA) dianhydride was conjugated to SPION using a small modification of the well-known cyclic anhydride method at a ratio of 1:5 (NPs:DTPA) molar ratio. The reaction was purified with magnetic assorting columns (MACs) using high gradient magnetic field following incubation. Then the radiochemical purity of the radiolabeled NPs were determined using RTLC method. The magnetic properties of nanoparticles were measured by a 1.5 tesla clinical human MRI. Results: The NPs showed high super paramagnetic properties whereas their r₂/r₁ was 17.6. The RTLC showed that the purity of compound was above 99% after purification and the compound has shown a good in-vitro stability until 6 hours in the presence of human serum. The biodistribution of ¹¹¹In-DTPA-NPs in mice demonstrated high uptake in the reticuloendothelial system (RES) and the blood clearance was so fast. Conclusion: Due to magnificent uptakes of this radiotracer in the liver and spleen, its stability and their fast clearance from other tissues, especially in blood, it is suggested that this radiotracer would be suitable for RES theranostics purposes.