Comparison between absorbed dose to water standards established by water calorimetry at the LNE-LNHB and by application of international air-kerma based protocols for kilovoltage medium energy x-rays.

Nowadays, the absorbed dose to water for kilovoltage x-ray beams is determined from standards in terms of air-kerma by application of international dosimetry protocols. New standards in terms of absorbed dose to water has just been established for these beams at the LNE-LNHB, using water calorimetry, at a depth of 2 cm in water in accordance with protocols. The aim of this study is to compare these new standards in terms of absorbed dose to water, to the dose values calculated from the application of four international protocols based on air-kerma standards (IAEA TRS-277, AAPM TG-61, IPEMB and NCS-10). The acceleration potentials of the six beams studied are between 80 and 300 kV with half-value layers between 3.01 mm of aluminum and 3.40 mm of copper. A difference between the two methods smaller than 2.1% was reported. The standard uncertainty of water calorimetry being below 0.8%, and the one associated with the values from protocols being around 2.5%, the results are in good agreement. The calibration coefficients of some ionization chambers in terms of absorbed dose to water, established by application of calorimetry and air-kerma based dosimetry protocols, were also compared. The best agreement with the calibration coefficients established by water calorimetry was found for those established with the AAPM TG-61 protocol.