Pre-clinical testing of glass bead dosimeters and related dose comparison software to enable safer hypofractionation to sustainably and quickly clear the radiotherapy treatment backlog caused by COVID-19.

** COVID-19导致的癌症治疗大量积压是有据可查的。放射治疗的一个解决方案是通过增加每次治疗的剂量强度来减少患者需要的治疗次数（称为分割），这种技术称为低分割。例如，30或35次的典型前列腺治疗可能减少到15次甚至5次。低分次加速了患者吞吐量（因此减少了积压），但更高的剂量增加了更广泛的副作用的风险，并可能需要额外的医疗干预多年。因此需要更高的治疗精度和测量。*目前，10%至25%的放射治疗患者遭受潜在的有害副作用或治疗失败，这通常是因为没有能力直接（并且高精度地）测量体内接收的辐射，以与计划剂量进行比较。TRUEinvivo剂量映射器技术能够快速、廉价和简单地测量肿瘤和周围器官的实际辐射，从而更准确、安全和有效地实施放射治疗。* DoseMapper（TM）装置使用微（1 mm）玻璃珠串作为热释光剂量计（Thermoluminescent dosemometer，ELS），惰性、稳定、低成本、易于灭菌，具有出色的辐射剂量响应，并且在成像系统上可见，便于位置识别。由于这些特性和它们非常小的尺寸，它们非常适合用作瞬时体内剂量计。通过在一系列部分中的第一部分中评估剂量水平，临床医生然后可以更有信息地决定后续剂量是否可以安全地逐步增加，或者选择对剂量输送计划进行修改。使用我们的自动化剂量映射器读取器，完整的100个微珠剂量映射器的读数时间约为20* 分钟。因此，来自第一部分的结果可以容易地提供给肿瘤学家，当然在随后的部分之前。

**The extensive backlog in cancer treatment caused by COVID-19 is well documented. One solution in radiotherapy is to reduce the number of treatment sessions (called fractions) that a patient needs by increasing the strength of the delivered doses in each one, a technique called hypofractionation. For instance, a typical prostate treatment of 30 or 35 fractions could possibly be reduced to perhaps 15 or even 5 fractions .****Hypofractionation speeds up patient throughput (therefore reducing the backlog) but higher doses increase the risk of more extensive side effects and the potential of needing additional medical interventions possibly over years. Higher treatment accuracy and measurement is therefore needed.****Currently 10 to 25% of radiotherapy patients suffer potentially harmful side-effects or are failed by their treatment, often because there is no ability to measure directly (and with high accuracy) the radiation received in-body, to compare against the planned dose. The TRUEinvivo DOSEmapper technology enables the measurement of the actual radiation at the tumour and surrounding organs, quickly, cheaply and simply so that radiotherapy can be applied more accurately, safely and effectively.****The DoseMapper(tm) devices use strings of micro (1mm) glass beads as thermoluminescent dosimeters (TLD), inert, stable, low cost, easy to sterilise, with exceptional radiation dose response and visible on imaging systems for ease of position recognition. Because of these properties and their very small size they are ideal for use as a transient in-body in-vivo dosimeter. With dose levels evaluated in the first of a series of fractions, the clinician can then more informatively decide whether subsequent doses can be safely escalated, alternatively opting to make revisions to the dose delivery plan. The time for readout of a complete 100-bead DoseMapper is around 20** **minutes using our automated DOSEmapper Reader. Accordingly, results from the first fraction can be readily provided to the oncologist, certainly well in advance of subsequent fractions.**