Monte Carlo-based correction factors for ion chamber dosimetry in heterogeneous phantoms for megavoltage photon beams.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the perturbation correction factors and inhomogeneity correction factors (ICFs) for a thin-walled cylindrical ion chamber in a heterogeneous phantom including solid water, lung and bone plastic materials. The perturbation factors due to the replacement of the air cavity, non-water equivalence of the wall and the stem, non-air equivalence of the central electrode and the overall perturbation factor, P(Q), for a cylindrical chamber, in the heterogeneous phantom were calculated with the EGSnrc/Cavity Monte Carlo code for 6 and 15 MV photon beams. The PTW31010 (0.125 cm(3)) chamber was modeled with Monte Carlo simulations, and was used for measurements and calculations of percentage depth ionization (PDI) or percentage depth dose (PDD). ICFs were calculated from the ratio of the product of the stopping power ratios (SPRs) and P(Q) of lung or bone to solid water. Finally, the measured PDIs were converted to PDDs by using ICFs and were compared with those calculated by the Monte Carlo method. The perturbation effect for the ion chamber in lung material is insignificant at 5 × 5 and 10 × 10 cm(2) fields, but the effect needs to be considered under conditions of lateral electron disequilibrium with a 3 × 3 cm(2) field. ICFs in lung varied up to 2% and 4% depending on the field size for 6 and 15 MV, respectively. For bone material, the perturbation effects due to the chamber wall and the stem were more significant at up to 3.5% and 1.6% for 6 MV, respectively. ICFs for bone material were approximately 0.945 and 0.940 for 6 and 15 MV, respectively. The converted PDDs by using ICFs were in good agreement with Monte Carlo calculated PDDs. The chamber perturbation correction and SPRs should strictly be considered for ion chamber dosimetry in heterogeneous media. This is more important for small field dosimetry in lung and bone materials.