Monte Carlo study of the depth-dependent fluence perturbation in parallel-plate ionization chambers in electron beams.

Purpose: The electron fluence inside a parallel-plate ionization chamber positioned in a water phantom and exposed to a clinical electron beam deviates from the unperturbed fluence in water in absence of the chamber. One reason for the fluence perturbation is the well-known "inscattering effect," whose physical cause is the lack of electron scattering in the gas-filled cavity. Correction factors determined to correct for this effect have long been recommended.

Correction factors for source strength determination in HDR brachytherapy using the in-phantom method.

For the purpose of clinical source strength determination for HDR brachytherapy sources, the German society for Medical Physics (DGMP) recommends in their report 13 the usage of a solid state phantom (Krieger-phantom) with a thimble ionization chamber. In this work, the calibration chain for the determination of the reference air-kerma rate Ka,100 and reference dose rate to waterDw,1 by ionization chamber measurement in the Krieger-phantom was modeled via Monte Carlo simulations. These calculations were used to determine global correction factors k(tot), which allows a user to directly convert the reading of an ionization chamber calibrated in terms of absorbed dose to water, into the desired quantity Ka,100 or Dw,1.