[Polarity effects of commercial plane-parallel ionization chamber in therapeutic electron dosimetry-Results with C-134A ionization chamber.].

Plane-parallel ionization chambers that exhibit polar effects with low energy electron beams are recommended for therapeutic electron dosimetry. In this study, the polarity effects of a C-134A ionization chamber, a major commercially available plane-parallel ionization chamber in Japan, were characterized as a function of mean energy at various depths. Polarity effects were measured at representative depths along depth dose curves of nominal 4, 6, 9, 12 and 15 MeV electron beams, and were compared with previously reported results. Polarity errors for the ionization chamber studied were shown to monotonically increase with decreasing mean energy at a given depth and were maximal at about 1-2 MeV. It was also shown that polarity errors depended on the energy of the incident electron beam. The polarity error of the C-134A ionization chamber was larger than that of other previously investigated plane-parallel ionization chambers. Because the magnitude of polarity effects should be determined throughout the depth dose curve in therapeutic electron dosimetry, it is always necessary to measure ionization readings taken at both polarities.

Effects of density changes in the chest on lung stereotactic radiotherapy.

To experimentally and theoretically evaluate dose distribution during lung stereotactic radiotherapy, we investigated the relative electron densities in lung and tumor tissues using X-ray computed tomography images obtained from 30 patients in three breathing states: free breathing, inspiration breath-hold, and expiration breath-hold. We also calculated dose distribution using Monte Carlo simulation for lung tissue with two relative electron densities. The effect of changes in relative electron density on dose distribution in lung tissue was evaluated using calculated differential and integral dose volume histograms. The relative electron density of lung tissue was 0.22 in free breathing, 0.23 in shallow expiration, and 0.17 in shallow inspiration, and there was a tendency for relative electron density to decrease with age. The relative electron density of tumor tissue was approximately 0.9, with little variation due to differences in breathing state. As the relative electron density of lung tissue decreases, the low-dose region expands and leads to changes in the marginal dose.