Monte Carlo aided room scatter studies in the primary air kerma strength standardization of a remote afterloading 192Ir HDR source

Abstract

Corrections for room scatter, [ksc(d, H)]RM, were derived using Monte Carlo methods for rooms of various sizes, including the brachytherapy treatment room, in which primary air kerma strength standardization of a remote afterloading microSelectron 192Ir HDR source was carried out, using a 60 cm3 spherical graphite ion chamber. It was observed that for a given source-to-floor height, H, the air kerma rate due to room scatter was found to be decreasing with increase in source-to-detector distance, d, whereas it is assumed to be constant in the experimental determination (multiple-distance method) of the air kerma strength (AKS). Irrespective of the room size considered in the present study and when H = 100 cm, the assumption of `constant room scatter' for d = 50, 75 and 100 cm resulted in overestimation of the AKS by about 1%. However, when d was in the range 13–25 cm, it was only 0.20%. The room scatter correction for the shadow cone method was also computed and the result showed that no additional correction was required on account of forward scatter from the cone. Further, at larger d (50–100 cm), the number of low-energy photons (40–200 keV) relative to the total number of photons was found to be very significant, which may be useful to revisit the Spencer–Attix cavity theory.