Technical Note: Monte Carlo calculations of the AAPM TG-43 brachytherapy dosimetry parameters for a new titanium-encapsulated Yb-169 source.

Due to a number of distinct advantages resulting from the relatively low energy gamma ray spectrum of Yb-169, various designs of Yb-169 sources have been developed over the years for brachytherapy applications. Lately, Yb-169 has also been suggested as an effective and practical radioisotope option for a novel radiation treatment approach often known as gold nanoparticle-aided radiation therapy (GNRT). In a recently published study, the current investigators used the Monte Carlo N-Particle Version 5 (MCNP5) code to design a novel titanium-encapsulated Yb-169 source optimized for GNRT applications.

Dosimetric characterization of the M-15 high-dose-rate Iridium-192 brachytherapy source using the AAPM and ESTRO formalism.

The Source Production & Equipment Co. (SPEC) model M-15 is a new Iridium-192 brachytherapy source model intended for use as a temporary high-dose-rate (HDR) brachytherapy source for the Nucletron microSelectron Classic afterloading system. The purpose of this study is to characterize this HDR source for clinical application by obtaining a complete set of Monte Carlo calculated dosimetric parameters for the M-15, as recommended by AAPM and ESTRO, for isotopes with average energies greater than 50 keV.