Correction factors for Farmer-type chambers for absorbed dose determination in 60Co and 192Ir brachytherapy dosimetry

This paper presents experimentally determined correction factors for Farmer-type chambers for absorbed dose determination in Co-60 and Ir-192 brachytherapy dosimetry. The correction factors were determined from measurements made in a PMMA phantom and calculation of ratios of measured charges. The ratios were corrected for the different volumes of the ionization chambers, determined in external high-energy electron beams. The correction factors for the central electrode effect and the wall material dependency in Co-60 brachytherapy dosimetry agree with those used in external Co-60 beam dosimetry. In Ir-192 dosimetry, the central aluminium electrode increases the response of an NE2571 chamber compared with that of a chamber with a central graphite electrode. The increase is 1.1 and 2.1% at 1.5 and 5.0 g cm(-2) distance, respectively. Similar values are obtained with an NE2577 chamber. The wall correction factor in Ir-192 dosimetry for a chamber with an A-150 wall has been determined to be 1.018, independent of the measurement distance. For a graphite walled chamber, the correction factor is 0.996 and 1.001 at 1.5 and 5.0 g cm(-2) distance, respectively. The values of the wall correction factors are evaluated by a theory presented. If the chamber is used according to the 'large cavity' principle, the correction factor to account for the replacement of the phantom material by the ionization chamber was determined to be 0.982 for an NE2571 chamber when used with a Delrin cap, and 0.978 for an NE2581 when used with a polystyrene cap. The correction factors for the 'large cavity' principle are valid at both Co-60 and Ir-192 qualities.