Source geometry factors for HDR ¹9²Ir brachytherapy secondary standard well-type ionization chamber calibrations.

Well-type ionization chambers are used for measuring the source strength of radioactive brachytherapy sources before clinical use. Initially, the well chambers are calibrated against a suitable national standard. For high dose rate (HDR) (192)Ir, this calibration is usually a two-step process. Firstly, the calibration source is traceably calibrated against an air kerma primary standard in terms of either reference air kerma rate or air kerma strength. The calibrated (192)Ir source is then used to calibrate the secondary standard well-type ionization chamber. Calibration laboratories are usually only equipped with one type of HDR (192)Ir source. If the clinical source type is different from that used for the calibration of the well chamber at the standards laboratory, a source geometry factor, k(sg), is required to correct the calibration coefficient for any change of the well chamber response due to geometric differences between the sources. In this work we present source geometry factors for six different HDR (192)Ir brachytherapy sources which have been determined using Monte Carlo techniques for a specific ionization chamber, the Standard Imaging HDR 1000 Plus well chamber with a type 70010 HDR iridium source holder. The calculated correction factors were normalized to the old and new type of calibration source used at the National Physical Laboratory. With the old Nucletron microSelectron-v1 (classic) HDR (192)Ir calibration source, ksg was found to be in the range 0.983 to 0.999 and with the new Isodose Control HDR (192)Ir Flexisource k(sg) was found to be in the range 0.987 to 1.004 with a relative uncertainty of 0.4% (k = 2). Source geometry factors for different combinations of calibration sources, clinical sources, well chambers and associated source holders, can be calculated with the formalism discussed in this paper.

Comparison of conversion factors for x-ray beams from a Philips SL15 and the NPL linear accelerator.

The National Physical Laboratory provides a megavoltage photon calibration service for secondary standard dosemeter systems in terms of absorbed dose to water using a graphite calorimeter. It is therefore necessary to evaluate factors to convert absorbed dose calibrations from graphite to water for all energies provided by the calibration service. A portable graphite calorimeter is currently being developed at the NPL for measuring absorbed dose in the radiotherapy clinic (McEwen and Duane 2000 Phys. Med. Biol. 45 3675-91) and so factors are now required to be able to convert absorbed dose calibrations from graphite to water in the clinical beam. The factors used to convert absorbed dose calibrations from graphite to water which are currently in use at the NPL were determined in previous work by Burns and Dale (1990 NPL Report RSA (EXT) 7) for all photon energies provided by the high-energy x-ray calibration service. Nutbrown et al (2000 NPL Report CIRM 37) have since re-evaluated these conversion factors using two methods. In this paper the factors to convert absorbed dose calibrations from graphite to water for two clinical beams from a Philips SL15 LINAC (6 and 10 MV) that were determined using both methods are presented and compared with values for the NPL heavily filtered beams. The results from the measurements made on the clinical machines using both methods agree within 1sigma uncertainty. The weighted average of these results agrees to within 1sigma uncertainty with results given by Burns and Dale and Nutbrown et al. The uncertainty in the determination of the graphite to water conversion factors at the 1sigma level is estimated to be 0.4%.

Evaluation of factors to convert absorbed dose calibrations from graphite to water for the NPL high-energy photon calibration service.

The National Physical Laboratory (NPL) provides a high-energy photon calibration service using 4-19 MV x-rays and 60Co gamma-radiation for secondary standard dosemeters in terms of absorbed dose to water. The primary standard used for this service is a graphite calorimeter and so absorbed dose calibrations must be converted from graphite to water. The conversion factors currently in use were determined prior to the launch of this service in 1988. Since then, it has been found that the differences in inherent filtration between the NPL LINAC and typical clinical machines are large enough to affect absorbed dose calibrations and, since 1992, calibrations have been performed in heavily filtered qualities. The conversion factors for heavily filtered qualities were determined by interpolation and extrapolation of lightly filtered results as a function of tissue phantom ratio 20,10 (TPR20,10). This paper aims to evaluate these factors for all mega-voltage photon energies provided by the NPL LINAC for both lightly and heavily filtered qualities and for 60Co y-radiation in two ways. The first method involves the use of the photon fluence-scaling theorem. This states that if two blocks of different material are irradiated by the same photon beam, and if all dimensions are scaled in the inverse ratio of the electron densities of the two media, then, assuming that all photon interactions occur by Compton scatter the photon attenuation and scatter factors at corresponding scaled points of measurement in the phantom will be identical. The second method involves making in-phantom measurements of chamber response at a constant target-chamber distance. Monte Carlo techniques are then used to determine the corresponding dose to the medium in order to determine the chamber calibration factor directly. Values of the ratio of absorbed dose calibration factors in water and in graphite determined in these two ways agree with each other to within 0.2% (1sigma uncertainty). The best fit to both sets of results agrees with values determined in previous work to within 0.3% (1sigma uncertainty). It is found that the conversion factor is not sensitive to beam filtration.

The IPEM code of practice for determination of the reference air kerma rate for HDR (192)Ir brachytherapy sources based on the NPL air kerma standard.

This paper contains the recommendations of the high dose rate (HDR) brachytherapy working party of the UK Institute of Physics and Engineering in Medicine (IPEM). The recommendations consist of a Code of Practice (COP) for the UK for measuring the reference air kerma rate (RAKR) of HDR (192)Ir brachytherapy sources. In 2004, the National Physical Laboratory (NPL) commissioned a primary standard for the realization of RAKR of HDR (192)Ir brachytherapy sources. This has meant that it is now possible to calibrate ionization chambers directly traceable to an air kerma standard using an (192)Ir source (Sander and Nutbrown 2006 NPL Report DQL-RD 004 (Teddington: NPL) http://publications.npl.co.uk). In order to use the source specification in terms of either RAKR, Κ(R) (ICRU 1985 ICRU Report No 38 (Washington, DC: ICRU); ICRU 1997 ICRU Report No 58 (Bethesda, MD: ICRU)), or air kerma strength, S(K) (Nath et al 1995 Med. Phys. 22 209-34), it has been necessary to develop algorithms that can calculate the dose at any point around brachytherapy sources within the patient tissues. The AAPM TG-43 protocol (Nath et al 1995 Med. Phys. 22 209-34) and the 2004 update TG-43U1 (Rivard et al 2004 Med. Phys. 31 633-74) have been developed more fully than any other protocol and are widely used in commercial treatment planning systems. Since the TG-43 formalism uses the quantity air kerma strength, whereas this COP uses RAKR, a unit conversion from RAKR to air kerma strength was included in the appendix to this COP. It is recommended that the measured RAKR determined with a calibrated well chamber traceable to the NPL (192)Ir primary standard is used in the treatment planning system. The measurement uncertainty in the source calibration based on the system described in this COP has been reduced considerably compared to other methods based on interpolation techniques.