Factors for converting dose measured in polystyrene phantoms to dose reported in water phantoms for incident proton beams.

Purpose: Previous dosimetry protocols allowed calibrations of proton beamline dose monitors to be performed in plastic phantoms. Nevertheless, dose determinations were referenced to absorbed dose-to-muscle or absorbed dose-to-water. The IAEA Code of Practice TRS 398 recommended that dose calibrations be performed with ionization chambers only in water phantoms because plastic-to-water dose conversion factors were not available with sufficient accuracy at the time of its writing.