Comparison of Primary Doses Obtained in Three 6 MV Photon Beams Using a Small Attenuator

It is a common technique in radiotherapy treatment planning systems to simplify the calculations by splitting the radiation beam into two components: namely the primary and scattered components. The contributions of the two components are evaluated separately and then summed to give the dose at the point of interest. Usually, the primary dose is obtained experimentally by extrapolating the ionization measured within the medium to zero-field size (Godden, Gamma radiation from cobalt 60 teletherapy units. Br. J. Radiol. Suppl. , 45(1983)). This approach offers the opportunity to obtain the primary component of dose without the need for an uncertain non-linear extrapolation. The primary dose can be obtained from two measurements of ionization in a large beam in a water phantom, as well as four measurements of ionization in a narrow beam geometry. The measurements were done over a range of different depths and thus the primary linear attenuation coefficient was also obtained. The calibrated output of a linear accelerator is usually 1.00 Gy per 100 monitor units (MU) at the depth of maximum dose ( d max ) in water for a 10 cm × 10 cm field. The values for the primary dose components at d max in a 10 cm × 10 cm field obtained in three different 6 MV beams using this method are D P ( d max , 10 cm × 10 cm) = 0.925-0.943 Gy/100 MU. The obtained values of the primary dose components compare well with measurements in the same beams extrapolated to zero-field size and also to literature. One can thus conclude that this method has the potential to provide an independent measurable verification of calculations of primary dose.