KERMA

We can now define a term KERMA, or

Kinetic Energy Released in the Medium
KERMA is the initial kinetic energy of all
charged particles liberated by uncharged
particles in a unit mass of the medium

K = tr

= en

1 g

KERMA has units of J/kg

Collision & Radiative KERMA

It is useful to separate the KERMA into two
components
Kcol describes energy absorbed by medium
through inelastic collisions
Krad described energy lost to bremsstrahlung
radiation

K = K

col

+ K

rad

Collision & Radiative KERMA

en

Kcol and Krad can be described in terms of

K col = en

K rad = en
1 g

Dose

Amount of energy from ionizing

radiation absorbed per unit mass

Dose units are:

Gray 1Gy = 1 J/kg or
Rad (Radiation Absorbed Dose)
1 Rad = 0.01 J/kg

Note: These are the same units as

KERMA

Dose vs KERMA
Dose is defined as energy absorbed per
unit mass
Kerma is defined as energy released per
unit mass
Kcol is energy absorbed, but related to
point at which energy is released not point
where energy is absorbed

Dose vs KERMA
Difference is location
Kcol described energy transfer at the point of
the initial interaction
Dose describes the energy at the point where
it is absorbed
Kcol here
Dose here

Charged Particle Equilibrium

If the energy of electrons entering a
volume are equal the energy of electrons
leaving a volume we have charged particle
equilibrium
e-

e-

e-

e-

e-

e-

D = Kcol

Transient Charged Particle Equilibrium

Photon attenuation continuously reduces
the number of secondary electrons being
generated
e-

e-

ee-

e-

We write D = Kcol
For Co-60 = 1.005

Transient Charged Particle Equilibrium

Absorbed dose is due to KERMA from
upstream
D = Kcol

Dose from a Proton Beam

120 MeV Proton PDD
100

Percent Depth Dose

90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
0

10

12

Depth (cm)

Dose From an Electron Beam

100

22 MeV Electron
6 MeV Electron

Percent Depth Dose

80

60

40

20

0
0.0

2.0

4.0

6.0

8.0
Depth (cm)

10.0

12.0

14.0

Dose from a Photon Beam

100

Cobalt-60

Percent Depth Dose %)

80

100 kV
15 MV X-Rays

60

40

20

0
0.00

10.00

20.00

30.00

Depth (cm)

Exposure
Amount of charge produces per unit mass
of air resulting from photon collisions,
where all secondary electrons are stopped
in the dosimeter.
The Roentgen
1 esu/cc = 2.58 x 10-4 C/Kg
Definition of exposure based on what could be
historically measured

Exposure
Electrons produced by photons within the
specified volume must spend all of their
energy within the region of ion collection

Exposure

Only defined for photon beams

Not defined beyond 3 MeV because free air
chambers cannot maintain electronic
equilibrium above this energy

Free Air Chamber

Chamber is just a capacitor:
Q = cV
Guard electrodes directly
grounded to give uniform
electric field
Collecting electrode goes
through picoameter to ground
Distance between field edge
and electrodes must be >> than
electron range
Distance between point D and P
must be large so no electrons
from diaphragm reach detector

Xp =

Q
Q
=
m A L

Exposure to Dose in Water

The conversion from exposure to dose in
water Is a two step process:

Dose in Air
Cavity

Water

Measure
Exposure

Calculate
Dose to Air

Convert to
Dose in Water

Dose in Air
Dose obtained from exposure by:
W
Dair = X
e

air

W/e is the mean energy required to

produce an ion pair in dry air
(W/e) = 33.97 J/C
For electrons with energy above 10 keV
W/e is a constant.

Dose in Air
W
Dair = X
e

air

= 0.876 X

X in units of R
Dair in units of rad
The 0.876 converts exposure in R to rad

Ion chamber approximates a free air

chamber

Dose in Water
Need to convert dose in air to dose in water
(or tissue)
Recall:

D = K col = en

We can then define:

water

where

Dmed
= A en
Dair
air
A=

water
air

Exposure to Absorbed dose in a

medium
The dose to the medium can then be
calculated as:
X in roetgens and D in rad
med

W
Dmed = 0.876 XA en
e air

The factor fmed has been defined such that:

Dmed = f med X A

Tissue Equivalent Materials

There are different kinds of tissue equivalent material for
different purposes e.g. Radiotherapy, radiology MRI,
ultrasound
For dosimetry purposes we try to match absorbed dose
characteristics of water in a clinically relevant energy
range
Photons
Match interaction cross-sections of photoelectric effect, Compton
scattering and pair production
Mass attenuation coefficient can be estimated from a weighted
average of constituents. (effective atomic number)
Density is other important matching factor

Electrons
Match mass collision stopping power & mass electron scattering
power
Mass collision stopping power can be estimated from weighed
sum of stopping powers of constituents (not a function of atomic
number)
Electron mass scattering power has simple power law
dependence on atomic number