title: Calibration of 192Ir high-dose-rate afterloading systems.
abstract: A method is described for calibration of 192Ir high-dose-rate (HDR) brachytherapy afterloading systems. Since NIST does not offer calibration of ionization chambers with the gamma-ray spectrum of iridium-192, an interpolation procedure is employed, using calibrations above (137Cs, 662 keV) and below (250 kVcp, 146-keV x rays) the exposure-weighted average 192Ir energy of 397 keV. The same total wall + cap thickness must be used for both calibrations, and for the 192Ir measurements. A wall + cap thickness of 0.3 g/cm2 is recommended to assure charged particle equilibrium and to exclude secondary electrons emitted from the source encapsulation. Procedures are described for determining the corrections for source-chamber distance and room scatter during the source calibration in inverse-square-law geometry. A new well-type ionization chamber has been designed specifically for convenient routine use with the HDR afterloading system. It can be calibrated by means of a previously calibrated 192Ir source, and offers a simple means for verifying the decay rate and for calibrating 192Ir replacement sources.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Physics, University of Wisconsin Medical School, Madison 53706.
authors.forename: S J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Goetsch
authors.forename: F H
authors.initials: FH
authors.lastname: Attix
authors.forename: D W
authors.initials: DW
authors.lastname: Pearson
authors.forename: B R
authors.initials: BR
authors.lastname: Thomadsen
mesh_terms: D001918:Brachytherapy / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000592:standards; D002138:Calibration; D006801:Humans; D007496:Iridium Radioisotopes / Q000627:therapeutic use*
chemical_list: D007496:Iridium Radioisotopes