Application of a pelvic phantom in brachytherapy dosimetry for high-dose-rate (HDR) 192Ir source based on Monte Carlo simulations

In this study, we evaluate how the radial dose function is influenced by the source position as well as the phantom size and shape. A pelvic water phantom similar to the pelvic shape of a human body was designed by averaging dimensions obtained from computed tomography (CT) images of patients treated with brachytherapy for cervical cancer. Furthermore, for the study of the effects of source position on the dose distribution, the position of the source in the water phantom was determined by using the center of mass of the gross target volume (GTV) in the CT images. To obtain the dosimetric parameter of a high-dose-rate (HDR) 192Ir source, we performed Monte Carlo simulations by using the Monte Carlo n-particle extended code (MCNPX). The radial dose functions obtained using the pelvic water phantom were compared with those of spherical phantom with different sizes, including the Monte Carlo (MC) results of Williamson and Li. Differences between the radial dose functions from this study and the data in the literature increased with the radial distances. The largest differences appeared for spherical phantom with the smallest size. In contrast to the published MC results, the radial dose function of the pelvic water phantom significantly decreased with radial distance in the vertical direction because full scattering was not possible. When the source was located in posterior position 2 cm from the center in the pelvic water phantom, the differences between the radial dose functions rapidly decreased with the radial distance in the lower vertical direction. If the International Commission on Radiation Units and Measurements bladder and rectum points are considered, doses to these reference points could be underestimated by up to 1%–2% at a distance of 3 to 6 cm. Our simulation results provide a valid clinical reference data and can used to improve the accuracy of the doses delivered during brachytherapy applied to patients with cervical cancer.