Exit dose studies in megavoltage photon therapy

A coin-shaped ionisation chamber, orientated with its thin window facing away from the radiation source, was used to investigate the dose perturbations caused by the absence of back-scattering material near the exit surface of solid phantoms. Cobalt 60 and 4, 8 and 16 MV X-ray beams were used in the study. With no scattering material beyond the chamber window the ionisation was found to be as much as 17% less than the full scatter value. This was attributed to the absence of both back-scattered electrons and back-scattered photons. Full electron back-scattering could be restored by placing between 1.0 and 2.7 mm of unit density material beyond the chamber, depending on the primary beam energy. Under these circumstances the reduction in dose, now due to the absence of back-scattered photons only, was found to be small.