Monte Carlo dosimetry of the IRAsource high dose rate (192)Ir brachytherapy source.

Abstract

High-dose-rate (HDR) brachytherapy is a common method for cancer treatment in clinical brachytherapy. Because of the different source designs, there is a need for specific dosimetry data set for each HDR model. The purpose of this study is to obtain detailed dose rate distributions in water phantom for a first prototype HDR (192)Ir brachytherapy source model, IRAsource, and compare with the other published works. In this study, Monte Carlo N-particle (MCNP version 4C) code was used to simulate the dose rate distributions around the HDR source. A full set of dosimetry parameters reported by the American Association of Physicists in Medicine Task Group No. 43U1 was evaluated. Also, the absorbed dose rate distributions in water, were obtained in an along-away look-up table. The dose rate constant, Λ, of the IRAsource was evaluated to be equal to 1.112±0.005cGyh(-1) U(-1). The results of dosimetry parameters are presented in tabulated and graphical formats and compared with those reported from other commercially available HDR (192)Ir sources, which are in good agreement. This justifies the use of specific data sets for this new source. The results obtained in this study can be used as input data in the conventional treatment planning systems.