Quantitative evaluation of dosimetric uncertainties associated with small electron fields

IntroductionAlthough many studies have investigated small electron fields, there are several dosimetric issues that are not well understood. This includes lack of charged particle equilibrium, lateral scatter, source occlusion and volume averaging of the detectors used in the measurement of the commissioning data. High energy electron beams are also associated with bremsstrahlung production that contributes to dose deposition, which is not well investigated, particularly for small electron fields. The goal of this work has been to investigate dosimetric uncertainties associated with small electron fields using dose measurements with different detectors as well as calculations with eMC dose calculation algorithm.MethodsDifferent dosimetric parameters including output factors, depth dose curves and dose profiles from small electron field cutouts were investigated quantitatively. These dosimetric parameters were measured using different detectors that included small ion chambers and diodes for small electron cutouts with diameters ranging from 15-50mm mounted on a 6 × 6cm² cone with beam energies from 6-20MeV.ResultsLarge deviations existed between the output factors calculated with the eMC algorithm and measured with small detectors for small electron fields up to 55% for 6MeV. The discrepancy between the calculated and measured doses increased 10%-55% with decreasing electron beam energy from 20 MeV to 6 MeV for 15mm circular field. For electron fields with cutouts 20mm and larger, the measured and calculated doses agreed within 5% for all electron energies from 6-20MeV. For small electron fields, the maximal depth dose shifted upstream and becomes more superficial as the electron beam energy increases from 6-20MeV as measured with small detectors.DiscussionLarge dose discrepancies were found between the measured and calculated doses for small electron fields where the eMC underestimated output factors by 55% for small circular electron fields with a diameter of 15 mm, particularly for low energy electron beams. The measured entrance doses and d_max of the depth dose curves did not agree with the corresponding values calculated by eMC. Furthermore, the measured dose profiles showed enhanced dose deposition in the umbra region and outside the small fields, which mostly resulted from dose deposition from the bremsstrahlung produced by high energy electrons that was not accounted for by the eMC algorithm due to inaccurate modeling of the lateral dose deposition from bremsstrahlung.ConclusionElectron small field dosimetry require more consideration of variations in beam quality, lack of charged particle equilibrium, lateral scatter loss and dose deposition from bremsstrahlung produced by energetic electron beams in a comprehensive approach similar to photon small field dosimetry. Furthermore, most of the commercially available electron dose calculation algorithms are commissioned with large electron fields; therefore, vendors should provide tools for the modeling of electron dose calculation algorithms for small electron fields.