Measurement of absorbed dose-to-water for an HDR {sup 192}Ir source with ionization chambers in a sandwich setup
- Department of Health Sciences, Faculty of Life Sciences, Kumamoto University, 4-24-1 Kuhonji, Kumamoto 862-0976 (Japan)
- Department of Radiotherapy, Kumamoto University Hospital, 1-1-1 Honjyo, Kumamoto 860-8556 (Japan)
- Department of Radiotherapy, Miyazaki University Hospital, 5200 Kihara Ohaza Kiyotake-Machi, Miyazaki 889-1692 (Japan)
Purpose: In this study, a dedicated device for ion chamber measurements of absorbed dose-to-water for a Nucletron microSelectron-v2 HDR {sup 192}Ir brachytherapy source is presented. The device uses two ionization chambers in a so-called sandwich assembly. Using this setup and by taking the average reading of the two chambers, any dose error due to difficulties in absolute positioning (centering) of the source in between the chambers is cancelled to first order. The method's accuracy was examined by comparing measurements with absorbed dose-to-water determination based on the AAPM TG-43 protocol.Methods: The optimal source-to-chamber distance (SCD) for {sup 192}Ir dosimetry was determined from ion chamber measurements in a water phantom. The {sup 192}Ir source was sandwiched between two Exradin A1SL chambers (0.057 cm{sup 3}) at the optimal SCD separation. The measured ionization was converted to the absorbed dose-to-water using a {sup 60}Co calibration factor and a Monte Carlo-calculated beam quality conversion factor, k{sub Q}, for {sup 60}Co to {sup 192}Ir. An uncertainty estimate of the proposed method was determined based on reproducibility of measurements at different institutions for the same type of source.Results: The optimal distance for the A1SL chamber measurements was determined to be 5 cm from the {sup 192}Ir source center, considering the depth dependency of k{sub Q} for {sup 60}Co to {sup 192}Ir and the chamber positioning. The absorbed dose to water measured at (5 cm, 90°) on the transverse axis was 1.3% lower than TG-43 values and its reproducibility and overall uncertainty were 0.8% and 1.7%, respectively. The measurement doses at anisotropic points agreed within 1.5% with TG-43 values.Conclusions: The ion chamber measurement of absorbed dose-to-water with a sandwich method for the {sup 192}Ir source provides a more accurate, direct, and reference dose compared to the dose-to-water determination based on air-kerma strength in the TG-43 protocol. Due to the simple but accurate assembly, the sandwich measurement method is useful for daily dose management of {sup 192}Ir sources.
- OSTI ID:
- 22230769
- Journal Information:
- Medical Physics, Vol. 40, Issue 9; Other Information: (c) 2013 American Association of Physicists in Medicine; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0094-2405
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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