Gafchromic film dosimetry of a new HDR 192Ir brachytherapy source

High-dose-rate (HDR) brachytherapy is a popular modality for treating cancers of the prostate, cervix, endometrium, breast, skin, bronchus, esophagus, and head and neck as well as soft-tissue sarcomas. Because of different source designs and licensing issues, there is a need for specific dosimetry dataset for each HDR source model. The main objective of the present work is to measure 2D relative dose distribution around a new prototype 192Ir source, referred to as IRAsource-HDR, in PMMA phantom in the framework of AAPM TG-43 and TG-55 recommendations for radial distances of 0.5cm to 4 cm. Radiochromic films (RCFs) Gafchromic EBT and HD-810 were used for measurements. The dose rate constant, Λ, of the source was determined to be 1.084± 4.6%, 1.129 ± 4.4%, and 1.112 ± 0.8% cGyh-1U-1 using EBT RCF, HD-810 RCF, and Monte Carlo (MC) simulation, respectively. The results obtained in this study are in good agreement with previously published data for HDR interstitial 192Ir-HDR sources with a maximum discrepancy of ± 4.5%. An acceptable agreement (within ± 2%) between MC calculations and RCFs measurements showed that HD-810 RCF dosimetry is as good as EBT RCF, within HDR brachytherapy, and justifies the use of specific data for this new source. These data could be used as a benchmark for dose calculations in the conventional brachytherapy treatment planning systems.