Advanced Physics for Brachytherapy 2018

Type A uncertainty

➢ TG-43 U1* suggests that enough histories, N, should be used to ensure that dosimetry results have relative uncertainties <2% at r<5 cm

➢ AAPM/ESTRO** recommendations are MC Type A uncertainties (k=1)<0.1% for distances < 5 cm and Type A uncertainties (k=1)<0.2% for distances <10cm

➢ TG-138 (AAPM/ESTRO)*** suggests MC type A<0.1% when feasible

* Rivard et al., 2004. Update of AAPM Task Group No. 43 Report: A revised AAPM protocol for brachytherapy dose calculations. Med. Phys. 31(3), p.633. ** Perez-Calatayud et al., 2012. Dose calculation for photon-emitting brachytherapy sources with average energy higher than 50 keV: report of the AAPM and ESTRO. Med. Phys. 39(5), p.2904 *** DeWerd et al., 2011. A dosimetric uncertainty analysis for photon-emitting brachytherapy sources: report of AAPM Task Group No. 138 and GEC-ESTRO. Med. Phys. 38(2), pp. 782