Relationship between kerma and treatment volume in intracavitary radiation therapy.

Data on 200 patients with carcinoma of the uterine cervix irradiated with afterloading brachytherapy using various high dose rate source configurations have been evaluated with respect to the total reference air kerma and the treatment volume as well as other volumes of interest. The experimental results showed good correlation between kerma and volume, and have also been discussed theoretically for the single-source, double-source and triple-source configurations. The possibility of using the demonstrated kerma-volume relationships for simple estimation of volumes enables us to select the appropriate treatment plan for the individual patient and to evaluate the results of the treatment.