Determination of percentage depth-dose curves for electron beams using different types of detectors

According to the new AAPM TG-51 dosimetry protocol, reference dosimetry for electron beams is performed at depth of d(ref)=0.6R50-0.1 (cm) instead of d(max) recommended in TG-21. In clinical practice most electron beams are normalized at d(max). Therefore it becomes more important to get an accurate percentage-depth-dose (%dd) curve particularly for higher-energy electron beams in which the depth d(ref) is away from d(max). When ionization chambers are used in determining %dd curves the water-to-air stopping-power ratios and the fluence correction factors are required. The TG-51 recommends that the stopping-power ratios for realistic electron beams be used instead of the monoenergetic stopping-power ratios used in TG-21. This investigation aims to study the effects of those correction factors on the determination of %dd curves. We observed 1% deviations in the value of %dd at d(ref) for 15 and 18 MeV beams between a plane-parallel NACP and a cylindrical IC-10 chamber without considering the fluence correction factors P(fl). We explored a method to derive the fluence correction factors at any depth by using the existing fluence correction data at d(max) and tested its feasibility. We compared %dd curves measured by a diode detector and a NACP chamber with stopping-power ratios recommended by TG-51 and those recommended by TG-21. We found that for 15 and 18 MeV beams the difference in the values of %dd at d(ref) between using those two different stopping-power ratios is about 0.5%. Excellent agreement is found between %dd curves measured by the diode and by the NACP chamber when the stopping-power ratios recommended by TG-51 are used.