Ion recombination correction factors and detector comparison in a very-high dose rate proton scanning beam

Purpose: Accurate dosimetry is paramount to study the FLASH biological effect since dose and dose rate are critical dosimetric parameters governing its underlying mechanisms. With the goal of assessing the suitability of standard clinical dosimeters in a very-high dose rate (VHDR) experimental setup, we evaluated the ion collection efficiency of several commercially available air-vented ionization chambers (IC) in conventional and VHDR proton irradiation conditions.Methods: A cyclotron at the Orsay Proton Therapy Center was used to deliver VHDR pencil beam scanning irradiation. Ion recombination correction factors (ks) were determined for several detectors (Advanced Markus, PPC05, Nano Razor, CC01) at the entrance of the plateau and at the Bragg peak, using the Niatel model, the Two -voltage method and Boag's analytical formula for continuous beams.Results: Mean dose rates ranged from 4 Gy/s to 385 Gy/s, and instantaneous dose rates up to 1000 Gy/s were obtained with the experimental set-up. Recombination correction factors below 2 % were obtained for all chambers, except for the Nano Razor, at VHDRs with variations among detectors, while ks values were signifi-cantly smaller (0.8 %) for conventional dose rates.Conclusions: While the collection efficiency of the probed ICs in scanned VHDR proton therapy is comparable to those in the conventional regime with recombination coefficiens smaller than 1 % for mean dose rates up to 177 Gy/s, the reduction in collection efficiency for higher dose rates cannot be ignored when measuring the absorbed dose in pre-clinical proton scanned FLASH experiments and clinical trials.

Automated summary

To assess the suitability of standard clinical dosimeters, the ion collection efficiency of several commercially available air-vented ionization chambers (IC) was evaluated in both conventional and very-high dose rate (VHDR) proton irradiation conditions. The results showed that the ion recombination correction factors for most detectors were below 2% at VHDRs, indicating comparable collection efficiency to conventional dose rates. However, the Nano Razor exhibited higher recombination correction factors at VHDRs, suggesting a reduction in collection efficiency at higher dose rates.