Feasibility of calibrating elongated brachytherapy sources using a well-type ionization chamber.

Recently, elongated brachytherapy sources (active length >1 cm) have become commercially available for interstitial prostate implants. These sources were introduced to improve the quality of brachytherapy procedures by eliminating the migration and seed bunching associated with loose seed-type implants. However, the inability to calibrate elongated brachytherapy sources with the Wide-Angle Free-Air Chamber (WAFAC) used by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) hinders the experimental determination of dosimetric parameters of these source types. In order to resolve this shortcoming, an interim solution has been introduced for calibration of elongated brachytherapy sources using a commercially available well-type ionization chamber. The feasibility of this procedure was examined by calibrating RadioCoil 103Pd sources with active lengths ranging from 1 to 7 cm.