This paper presents the design, implementation, and
testing of an integrated system for improving dose homogeneity
in total body irradiation (TBI). TBI is a radiation therapy tech-
nique that consists in delivering a uniform X-ray dose to the en-
tire body of the patient. Because of variations in patient’s tissues
thickness and density, achieving a uniform dose over the entire
body is one of the major challenges in TBI. The system proposed
in this paper, whose main goal is to compensate for tissues hetero-
geneities, is made up of a translating bed, a linear accelerator, a
vision system for body thickness assessment, a dynamically con-
trolled water filter, and a main control unit. The water filter, placed
between the X-ray source and the patient, is made up of an array of
70 small water containers (cells). The water level in each cell is con-
trolled in real time, so as to modify the dose distribution both in the
transverse direction and in the longitudinal direction. A prototype
of the water filter system was implemented and tested, achieving
good results in terms of dose uniformity.
