Calibration of the NPL secondary standard radionuclide calibrator for 125I seeds used for prostate brachytherapy

In the therapeutic use of radionuclides, by far the most rapid growth in recent years is that of 125I seeds used for the treatment of prostate cancer. Large numbers of these seeds are used in each treatment and there is a need for a simple but accurate means of confirming their dose rates. This mechanism requires a transfer device for which the calibration factors are traceable to national standards. The NPL secondary standard radionuclide calibrator, because of its guaranteed reproducibility and traceable calibration procedure, is ideally suited for this purpose. A series of characterisation measurements have been performed on the NPL radionuclide calibrator in order to estimate the uncertainty levels that can be achieved and these are presented together with the relevant calibration factors for some typical seeds