TURKISH JOURNAL OF ONCOLOGY
2009 , Vol 24 , Num 1
Measurement of the strength of high dose rate brachytherapy sources using two different techniques
1İ.Ü. Cerrahpaşa Tıp Fakültesi, Radyasyon Onkolojisi Anabilim Dalı2İ.Ü. Cerrahpaşa Tıp Fakültesi, Özel Sante Sağlık Hizmetleri
3İ.Ü. Cerrahpaşa Tıp Fakültesi, İtalyan Hastanesi OBJECTIVES
The isotope 192Ir is frequently used in high dose rate brachytherapy sources. The short half-life of 192Ir source compels the user to change the source at every interval of four to five months. A large uncertainty (±5%) in the source strength quoted by the supplier requires an independent calibration by the users. In this study, we compared the manufacturer's certificate source strength and the source strength as measured using two different techniques.
METHODS
We performed our measurements on Gammamed 12-i
brachytherapy unit for 10 sources in our clinic. The calibration jig
and cylindrical phantom were used to determine source strength.
Measurements were compared with the certificated values.
RESULTS
The difference between the calibration jig and cylindrical
phantom measurement methods for source strength was
between 0.1-4.2%. The results for the 10 sources showed a
difference in source strength between the certificates and our
measure of 0.6-3.9%.
CONCLUSION
According to our results, there was accordance between all
measurements.