Analysis of Uncertainties in Clinical High-Energy Photon Beam Calibrations Using Absorbed Dose Standards

Fawzia E.M. Elbashir, Wassim Ksouri, Farouk Habbani, Ahmed M. El-Khayatt, Mohamed Hassan Eisa, Ibrahim I. Suliman*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

1 Citation (Scopus)

Abstract

We compared the results of absorbed dose measurements made using the TRS-398, TG-51, and DIN protocols and their associated uncertainties to reduce discrepancies in measurement results made using the three protocols. This experiment was carried out on two Varian Medical linear accelerators with 4, 6, 10, and 20 MV photon energies using FC65-G and CC15 (cylindrical) and NACP-02-type (plane-parallel) ion chambers in water phantoms. The radiation beam quality index (Q) was determined from the measurement of percentage depth dose. It was used to determine the photon beam quality factor required with the ionization chamber calibration factor to convert the ion chamber reading into the absorbed dose to water. For the same beam quality, the TRS-398/TG-51 varied from 0.01% to 1.8%, whereas the ratio for TRS-398/DIN 6800-2 varied from 0.1% to 0.88%. The chamber-to-chamber variation was 0.09% in TRS-398/TG-51, 0.03% in TRS-398/DIN, and 0.02% in TG-51/DIN 6800-2. The expanded uncertainties (k = 1) were 1.24 and 1.25 when using TRS-398 and DIN 6800-2, respectively. Using the aforementioned three protocols, the results showed little chamber-to-chamber variation and uncertainty in absorbed dose measurements. The estimated uncertainties when using cylindrical ion chambers were slightly lower than those measured using plane-parallel chambers. The results are important in facilitating comparisons of absorbed dose measurements when using the three protocols.

Original languageEnglish
Article number3857
JournalApplied Sciences (Switzerland)
Volume12
Issue number8
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Apr 11 2022
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Linac
  • absorbed dose to water
  • dosimetry protocols
  • ionization chamber
  • radiation dosimetry
  • radiotherapy

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Materials Science
  • Instrumentation
  • General Engineering
  • Process Chemistry and Technology
  • Computer Science Applications
  • Fluid Flow and Transfer Processes

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