电子射野影像系统用于患者调强放射治疗计划剂量验证分析

目的分析电子射野影像系统(EPID)用于调强放射治疗计划剂量验证的准确性。方法选择2014年南通市第一人民医院住院行放射治疗宫颈癌术后患者10例,年龄45~71岁,中位年龄56岁。采用7野均分(0°、52°、104°、156°、208°、260°、310°7个角度)进行计划设计及剂量分布计算,获取归零野和实际野验证时叶片位移偏移、射野通过率,并将EPID归零野验证结果与PTW电离室矩阵归零野验证的射野通过率结果进行比较。结果EPID归零野和实际野验证获得的叶片偏移1 mm以内百分比数值的绝对值差异不大,但在208°、260°及310°3个角度差异有统计学意义。射野验证通过率在0°、52°时差异无统计学意义,而104°、156°、208°、260°、310°时差异有统计学意义。EPID归零野验证时获得的射野通过率与PTW电离室矩阵的验证结果差异无统计学意义。结论 EPID可以应用于调强计划的验证。     

两种胶片分析方法比较多叶光栅到位精确度:多中心测量结果的初步研究

【摘 要】 目的:应用两种胶片分析方法分析调强治疗多叶光栅（MLC）到位精确度。 方法:选择4个省共15家医院,其中8家为Varian加速器,MLC型号均为Millenium 120;7家为Elekta加速器,MLC型号为MLCi或MLCi2。胶片放在固体水模体30 cm×30 cm,dmax点处（水下1.5 cm）,SAD=100 cm,6 MV照射,250 MU（监督系数）/栅栏野,应用计划系统,在EBT3胶片上形成5条MLC栅栏野,每条栅栏野射野宽度为6 mm,5条栅栏野射野中心位置相对于中间栅栏野射野中心的位置距离分别为-6、-3、0、3、6 cm。将照射后的胶片用Epson Expression 10000XL扫描,应用Film QATM Pro软件得到栅栏野剂量曲线（profile）,并用两种归一方法即截断部分光密度值区域后归一和归一到局部位置区的光密度值,从射野位置及中心位置偏差、射野宽度及偏差4个方面分析比较MLC到位精确及多中心测量结果。 结果:两种分析方法比较,5条栅栏野实际射野位置相对于计划射野位置偏差,均测得9家医院位置偏差超过国际原子能机构（IAEA）规定偏差限值±0.5 mm;分析每条栅栏野射野中心位置的偏差,分析结果均符合IAEA规定限值±0.5 mm;分析5条栅栏野宽度,并与计划设定宽度6 mm相比较,偏差均符合IAEA规定不超过±1 mm;分析射野宽度最大最小值偏差及标准差,分析结果均符合IAEA规定偏差不超过±0.75 mm,标准差不超过0.30 mm。 结论:两种胶片分析方法测量MLC叶片到位精确度,结果相近,差别较小,在此实验中两种归一方法均可被用。     

恶性肿瘤调强适形放射治疗质量保证的研究

目的：探讨调强适形放射治疗的质量保证方法。方法：用CMS放射治疗计划系统设计调强适形放射治疗计划。采用CT模拟的方法验证射野等中心位置，比较各照射野实际胶片调强图与治疗计划系统得到的相应照射野的测强图的一致性，采用多通道剂量仪验证多点绝对剂量。结果：射野等中心位置误差在3mm以内。各射束垂直方向测得的调强图与计划系统计算的调强图一致。等中心点实测剂量与计划剂量的误差在3％以内，其余偏离点的实测剂量与计划剂最误差在5％以内。近期疗效为完全缓解（CR）58．8％（10／17），部分缓解（PR）17．6％（3／17），无变化（NR）23．5％（4／17），总有效率（CR＋PR）为76．5％（13／17），所有17例患者均能耐受放射治疗，按计划完成调强透形放射治疗。结论：上述质量保证措施切实可行。调强适形放射治疗对恶性肿瘤有较好的近期疗效。     

PTW729二维矩阵的平面剂量验证

目的:调强计划在用于病人治疗之前必须要进行剂量学验证,以此确保调强计划各个射野出束剂量的精确度以及测量层面平面剂量分布的精确度。本文探讨逆向调强适形放射治疗过程中的剂量学验证,分析影响剂量验证结果的因素,采取相应措施消除影响,保证IMRT治疗计划临床实施的正确性。方法:选取30例需要做验证的调强计划,将计划移植至标准水模体上生成QA计划并在TPS上计算出测量平面的剂量分布,然后将计划导入MOSAIQ,ELEKTA Precise加速器执行QA计划,用PTW729二维电离室矩阵进行平面剂量验证,收集数据经矩阵扫描软件Matri Scan读出二维电离室矩阵收集的信息传递至Veri Soft软件中,对比剂量分布图得出计划通过率。结果:PTW729二维电离室矩阵能够测量照射野的剂量分布和强度分布,能够对逆向调强计划进行准确的剂量学验证,得出平面剂量验证的通过率与MLC叶片到位精准度和计划的子野面积有明确关系。结论 :利用PTW729二维电离室矩阵可以极大地简化验证工作量,提高验证的效率。     

调强放射治疗射野和剂量的验证

目的：为确保调强放射治疗的精确,利用自制和专用设备对每个射野的位置、形状和野内剂量分布进行验证。方法：用自制的位置验证标记球,贴在病人体表的某个固定位置,和病人一起进行CT扫描,设计计划时将此标记球设为位置验证靶区进行射野位置验证。利用加速器自带的射野影像系统（EPID）和治疗计划系统（TPS）的DRR图比对进行射野形状验证。利用Matrixx二维电离室矩阵和OnmiPro软件进行每个射野的剂量验证。结果：射野位置验证在统一调整系统后,误差结果满意。射野形状验证以3mm为标准,调整前的吻合率约为75％。剂量验证通过率大于等于95％的射野占77％。结论：通过81例鼻咽癌调强放疗的实验证明,利用上述三种方法对调强计划进行验证,可以及时纠正误差,确保计划准确执行。     

Monaco治疗计划系统的剂量学性能测试验证

目的:对Monaco治疗计划系统(Treatment Planning System,TPS)进行临床使用前的剂量学性能测试,验证TPS不同类型射野计划计算剂量与计划执行时加速器的实际递送剂量间的差异是否符合标准。方法:所用设备为医科达公司Axesse直线加速器,配置Agility型多叶光栅;Monaco TPS版本号5.0,剂量计算模型为Monto Carlo;IBA公司Dose 1剂量仪、0.6 cc电离室和Matrixx电离室矩阵。依据IAEA 430号和AAPM TG-53号报告、科室设备和验证工具,从医科达公司网站下载Express QA Plan测试包,其中的测试例涵盖规则野、不规则野和模拟病人头颈部肿瘤调强野。在Monaco TPS系统中分别调用测试例,将计划分别移植到模体上,创建验证计划,将计算验证计划所得剂量分布输出到Matrixx软件Omni Pro I'm RT,将计划计算剂量与Matrixx实际所测剂量进行比对和分析。剂量验证通过标准是绝对量3 mm/3%,γ通过率超过90%。结果:所有测试例剂量验证结果均达到了93%以上。结论:Monaco TPS可以安全地用于临床。     

影响调强放疗绝对剂量的主要因素及应对措施

目的:验证调强放射治疗的绝对剂量误差,探索影响调强放疗绝对剂量的因素及其应对措施.方法:将20例准备实施调强放疗病人的实际治疗计划,用标准水模体进行计划移植,生成验证计划并计算体模内电离室测量点的计划剂量,执行验证计划的照射,用电离室进行实际物理绝对剂量测量,计算实际测量剂量值和计划剂量值的百分相对误差.分析影响调强放疗绝对剂量误差的主要因素,采取相应改进措施,验证另80例调强放疗的绝对剂量,比较前20例与改进后80例调强放疗绝对剂量验证结果.结果:前20例调强放疗绝对剂量百分相对误差分布范围是-8.00%～5.00%,平均误差为-2.01%,标准差为3.55%.采取相应改进措施后,80例调强放疗绝对剂量百分相对误差全部在4.4%以内,分布范围缩小到-4.4%～2.5%,平均误差为-1.49%,比前20例平均误差下降25.9%,标准差为1.40%,比前20例下降60.6%.结论:分析影响调强放疗绝对剂量的因素,采取必要的应对措施,能够有效提高调强放射治疗绝对剂量的准确性.     

Octavius 4D系统稳定性验证分析

目的:探讨Octavius 4D系统用于容积旋转调强放射治疗(VMAT)三维剂量验证的稳定性。方法:比较分析semiflex电离室和Octavius 729探测器阵列在6 MV、10 MV射束下对射野大小、剂量线性、剂量率线性和射野输出因子的响应。测量观察Octavius 4D系统旋转过程中角度仪示值与机架角的角度偏差。用3%/3 mm标准分析(10×10)cm~2旋转照射计划和VMAT计划机架归零与旋转照射的二维剂量分布;用3%/3 mm gamma分析标准评估VMAT计划。结果:预热剂量大于6 Gy是探测器稳定的必要条件。探测器阵列剂量响应是线性的,不同标称剂量率下剂量测量是稳定的。旋转照射过程中加速器机架角和Octavius 4D模体旋转角度误差在0.4°以内。6 MV和10 MV射束VMAT计划在分析标准为3%/3 mm时,三维剂量分布的平均通过率分别为96.03%和95.56%,满足临床计划剂量验证的标准。结论:Octavius4D模体联合Octavius 729探测器阵列是一套稳定性装置,用于治疗前验证VMAT计划是可靠的。     

带金属植入物患者调强放射治疗计划中射野角度设置对剂量计算准确度的影响

目的:对金属植入物及其伪影在放疗计划中产生的剂量计算偏差进行测试,评估射野角度设置对调强放射治疗(IMRT)计划剂量计算准确度的影响。方法:模拟髋关节置换患者,在CIRS调强模体中插入两根不锈钢金属棒。将指形电离室分别置于金属棒所在平面内中间位置的3个点,采用带金属伪影消减技术的CT模拟定位机获取未经校正和校正后的模体图像。在Monaco计划系统中利用两种CT图像,在0o～360o内每隔5o设置一个射野(10 cm×10 cm, 100 MU),检测不同入射路径射野的剂量计算偏差。勾画靶区和危及器官,设计5野和7野IMRT计划,每种计划分别设有0、1或2个射野的入射路径通过金属区域,检测射野角度设置对IMRT计划剂量计算偏差的影响。结果:入射路径没有通过金属区域的单个射野在未校正及校正后图像中的剂量计算偏差分别为3.24%和1.56%,入射路径通过金属区域时剂量计算偏差分别达到5.51%～72.14%和5.32%～48.19%。在5野IMRT计划中,当有0、1和2个入射路径通过金属区域的射野时,未校正图像的计划剂量计算偏差分别为3.15%、8.75%和13.33%,校正图像的计划剂量计算偏差分别为1.54%、5.93%和9.06%;7野IMRT计划中,未校正图像的计划剂量计算偏差分别为3.03%、5.28%和10.71%,校正图像的计划剂量计算偏差分别为1.29%、4.38%和7.75%。结论:放射治疗计划中入射路径通过金属区域的射野会严重影响剂量计算的准确度,应尽量避免使用这种射野。虽然采用金属伪影消减技术校正CT图像能够改善这种影响,但在IMRT计划中存在两个及以上的这种射野可能导致临床上不可接受的剂量计算偏差。     

利用矩阵电离室对加速器和放疗计划系统进行剂量学研究

目的:探讨利用矩阵电离室对医用直线加速器及放射治疗计划系统进行快速剂量学的检测方法和项目。方法:在矩阵电离室上方放置5cm的固体等效水模,下方放置5cm的反射水模,对标准方野和矩形野测试,测试条件SSD=95cm,SAD=100cm,射野大小分别为2cm、5cm、10cm、15cm、20cm和2cm×10cm、5cm×20cm、20cm×5cm,MU为100cGy;对治疗计划系统的中央挡铅、MLC形成的中央挡铅、不对称射野、MLC末端形状(叶片末端效应)和相对叶片之间的间隙和MLC侧面效应、叶片凹凸槽效应、以及简单模拟调强模型等相关参数进行检测。结果:方野和矩形野的平坦度为100.07%～102.66%,对称性为0.10%～1.49%;光野、射野一致性检测:X方向为-1.5%～0.7%,Y方向为-1.4%～1.0%,平均为-0.47%;对放疗计划系统的检验,主要验证计算值与实际测量值的结果比较,以Gamma值和绝对剂量偏差值(4%)来判断两者的符合性。对于方形野和矩形野Gamma值在92.02%～96.35%,而对于多野光栅的相关检测,在计划系统设置的两个半野(X1=5cm,X2=0cm,Y=10cm和X1=0cm,X2=5cm,Y=10cm)合成实验中,合成区域间隔处有5%的剂量偏差,5个2cm×10cm合成10cm×10cm实验中,在射野连接处误差值最大可达10%;在两个2cm×2cm的方野,间距6cm实验中,第一个射野Gamma值可达96.6%,第二个Gamma值为93.2%。结论:利用矩阵电离室可对医用直线加速器和放疗计划系统实现快速的剂量学检测,对加强两者日常的QA和QC具有重要的意义。     

Absolute dose calculations for Monte Carlo simulations of radiotherapy beams

Monte Carlo (MC) simulations have traditionally been used for single field relative comparisons with experimental data or commercial treatment planning systems (TPS). However, clinical treatment plans commonly involve more than one field. Since the contribution of each field must be accurately quantified, multiple field MC simulations are only possible by employing absolute dosimetry. Therefore, we have developed a rigorous calibration method that allows the incorporation of monitor units (MU) in MC simulations. This absolute dosimetry formalism can be easily implemented by any BEAMnrc/DOSXYZnrc user, and applies to any configuration of open and blocked fields, including intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) plans. Our approach involves the relationship between the dose scored in the monitor ionization chamber of a radiotherapy linear accelerator (linac), the number of initial particles incident on the target, and the field size. We found that for a 10 x 10 cm2 field of a 6 MV photon beam, 1 MU corresponds, in our model, to 8.129 x 10(13) +/- 1.0% electrons incident on the target and a total dose of 20.87 cGy +/- 1.0% in the monitor chambers of the virtual linac. We present an extensive experimental verification of our MC results for open and intensity-modulated fields, including a dynamic 7-field IMRT plan simulated on the CT data sets of a cylindrical phantom and of a Rando anthropomorphic phantom, which were validated by measurements using ionization chambers and thermoluminescent dosimeters (TLD). Our simulation results are in excellent agreement with experiment, with percentage differences of less than 2%, in general, demonstrating the accuracy of our Monte Carlo absolute dose calculations.     

A Monte Carlo based three-dimensional dose reconstruction method derived from portal dose images

The verification of intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) is necessary for adequate quality control of the treatment. Pretreatment verification may trace the possible differences between the planned dose and the actual dose delivered to the patient. To estimate the impact of differences between planned and delivered photon beams, a three-dimensional (3-D) dose verification method has been developed that reconstructs the dose inside a phantom. The pretreatment procedure is based on portal dose images measured with an electronic portal imaging device (EPID) of the separate beams, without the phantom in the beam and a 3-D dose calculation engine based on the Monte Carlo calculation. Measured gray scale portal images are converted into portal dose images. From these images the lateral scattered dose in the EPID is subtracted and the image is converted into energy fluence. Subsequently, a phase-space distribution is sampled from the energy fluence and a 3-D dose calculation in a phantom is started based on a Monte Carlo dose engine. The reconstruction model is compared to film and ionization chamber measurements for various field sizes. The reconstruction algorithm is also tested for an IMRT plan using 10 MV photons delivered to a phantom and measured using films at several depths in the phantom. Depth dose curves for both 6 and 10 MV photons are reconstructed with a maximum error generally smaller than 1% at depths larger than the buildup region, and smaller than 2% for the off-axis profiles, excluding the penumbra region. The absolute dose values are reconstructed to within 1.5% for square field sizes ranging from 5 to 20 cm width. For the IMRT plan, the dose was reconstructed and compared to the dose distribution with film using the gamma evaluation, with a 3% and 3 mm criterion. 99% of the pixels inside the irradiated field had a gamma value smaller than one. The absolute dose at the isocenter agreed to within 1% with the dose measured with an ionization chamber. It can be concluded that our new dose reconstruction algorithm is able to reconstruct the 3-D dose distribution in phantoms with a high accuracy. This result is obtained by combining portal dose images measured prior to treatment with an accurate dose calculation engine.     

Investigation of the use of MOSFET for clinical IMRT dosimetric verification

(Received 22 October 2001; accepted for publication 26 March 2002; published 22 May 2002) With advanced conformal radiotherapy using intensity modulated beams, it is important to have radiation dose verification measurements prior to treatment. Metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistors (MOSFET) have the advantage of a faster and simpler reading procedure compared to thermoluminescent dosimeters (TLD), and with the commercial MOSFET system, multiple detectors can be used simultaneously. In addition, the small size of the detector could be advantageous, especially for point dose measurements in small homogeneous dose regions. To evaluate the feasibility of MOSFET for routine IMRT dosimetry, a comprehensive set of experiments has been conducted, to investigate the stability, linearity, energy, and angular dependence. For a period of two weeks, under a standard measurement setup, the measured dose standard deviation using the MOSFETs was +/- 0.015 Gy with the mean dose being 1.00 Gy. For a measured dose range of 0.3 Gy to 4.2 Gy, the MOSFETs present a linear response, with a linearity coefficient of 0.998. Under a 10 x 10 cm2 square field, the dose variations measured by the MOSFETs for every 10 degrees from 0 to 180 degrees is +/- 2.5%. The percent depth dose (PDD) measurements were used to verify the energy dependence. The measured PDD using the MOSFETs from 0.5 cm to 34 cm depth agreed to within +/- 3% when compared to that of the ionization chamber. For IMRT dose verification, two special phantoms were designed. One is a solid water slab with 81 possible MOSFET placement holes, and another is a cylindrical phantom with 48 placement holes. For each IMRT phantom verification, an ionization chamber and 3 to 5 MOSFETs were used to measure multiple point doses at different locations. Preliminary results show that the agreement between dose measured by MOSFET and that calculated by Corvus is within 5% error, while the agreement between ionization chamber measurement and the calculation is within 3% error. In conclusion, MOSFET detectors are suitable for routine IMRT dose verification.     

Pencil beam approach for correcting the energy dependence artifact in film dosimetry for IMRT verification

The higher sensitivity to low-energy scattered photons of radiographic film compared to water can lead to significant dosimetric error when the beam quality varies significantly within a field. Correcting for this artifact will provide greater accuracy for intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) verification dosimetry. A procedure is developed for correction of the film energy-dependent response by creating a pencil beam kernel within our treatment planning system to model the film response specifically. Film kernels are obtained from EGSnrc Monte Carlo simulations of the dose distribution from a 1 mm diameter narrow beam in a model of the film placed at six depths from 1.5 to 40 cm in polystyrene and solid water phantoms. Kernels for different area phantoms (50 x 50 cm2 and 25 x 25 cm2 polystyrene and 30 x 30 cm2 solid water) are produced. The Monte Carlo calculated kernel is experimentally verified with film, ion chamber and thermoluminescent dosimetry (TLD) measurements in polystyrene irradiated by a narrow beam. The kernel is then used in convolution calculations to, predict the film response in open and IMRT fields. A 6 MV photon beam and Kodak XV2 film in a polystyrene phantom are selected to test the method as they are often used in practice and can result in large energy-dependent artifacts. The difference in dose distributions calculated with the film kernel and the water kernel is subtracted from film measurements to obtain a practically film artifact free IMRT dose distribution for the Kodak XV2 film. For the points with dose exceeding 5 cGy (11% of the peak dose) in a large modulated field and a film measurement inside a large polystyrene phantom at depth of 10 cm, the correction reduces the fraction of pixels for which the film dose deviates from dose to water by more than 5% of the mean film dose from 44% to 6%.     

IMRT delivery verification using a spiral phantom

In this paper we report on the testing and verification of a system for IMRT delivery quality assurance that uses a cylindrical solid water phantom with a spiral trajectory for radiographic film placement. This spiral film technique provides more complete dosimetric verification of the entire IMRT treatment than perpendicular film methods, since it samples a three-dimensional dose subspace rather than using measurements at only one or two depths. As an example, the complete analysis of the predicted and measured spiral films is described for an intracranial IMRT treatment case. The results of this analysis are compared to those of a single field perpendicular film technique that is typically used for IMRT QA. The comparison demonstrates that both methods result in a dosimetric error within a clinical tolerance of 5%, however the spiral phantom QA technique provides a more complete dosimetric verification while being less time consuming. To independently verify the dosimetry obtained with the spiral film, the same IMRT treatment was delivered to a similar phantom in which LiF thermoluminescent dosimeters were arranged along the spiral trajectory. The maximum difference between the predicted and measured TLD data for the 1.8 Gy fraction was 0.06 Gy for a TLD located in a high dose gradient region. This further validates the ability of the spiral phantom QA process to accurately verify delivery of an IMRT plan.     

Dosimetric considerations for validation of a sequential IMRT process with a commercial treatment planning system

Commercial multileaf collimator (MLC) systems can employ leaves with rounded ends. Treatment planning beam modelling should consider the effects of transmission through rounded leaf ends to provide accurate dosimetry for IMRT treatments delivered with segmented MLC. We determined that an MLC leaf gap reduction of 1.4 mm is required to obtain an agreement between calculated and measured profile 50% dose points. A head and neck dosimetry phantom, supplied by the Radiological Physics Center (RPC), was planned and irradiated as a necessary credentialing requirement for the RTOG H-0022 protocol. The agreement between the RPC TLD measurements and treatment planning calculations was within experimental error for the primary and secondary planning target volumes (PTVs); however, the calculated mean dose for the critical structure was approximately 9% lower than the RPC TLD measurements. RPC radiochromic film profile measurements also indicated significant discrepancies (>5%) with calculated values especially in the high dose gradient region in the vicinity of the critical structure. These results substantiate our own in-house phantom measurements, performed with the same IMRT fields as for the RPC phantom experiment, using Kodak EDR2 film to measure absolute dose. Our results indicate a maximum underestimate of calculated dose of 12% with no leaf gap reduction. The discrepancy between measured and calculated phantom values is reduced to +/- 5% when a leaf gap reduction of 1.4 mm is used. A further improvement in the accuracy of dose calculation is not possible without a more accurate modelling of the leaf end transmission by the planning system. In the absence of published dosimetric criteria for IMRT our results stress the need for stringent in-house dosimetric QA and validation for IMRT treatments. We found the dosimetric validation service provided by the RPC to be a valuable component of our IMRT validation efforts.     

A quality assurance phantom for IMRT dose verification

This paper investigates a quality assurance (QA) phantom specially designed to verify the accuracy of dose distributions and monitor units (MU) calculated by clinical treatment planning optimization systems and by the Monte Carlo method for intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT). The QA phantom is a PMMA cylinder of 30 cm diameter and 40 cm length with various bone and lung inserts. A procedure (and formalism) has been developed to measure the absolute dose to water in the PMMA phantom. Another cylindrical phantom of the same dimensions, but made of water, was used to confirm the results obtained with the PMMA phantom. The PMMA phantom was irradiated by 4, 6 and 15 MV photon beams and the dose was measured using an ionization chamber and compared to the results calculated by a commercial inverse planning system (CORVUS, NOMOS, Sewickley, PA) and by the Monte Carlo method. The results show that the dose distributions calculated by both CORVUS and Monte Carlo agreed to within 2% of dose maximum with measured results in the uniform PMMA phantom for both open and intensity-modulated fields. Similar agreement was obtained between Monte Carlo calculations and measured results with the bone and lung heterogeneity inside the PMMA phantom while the CORVUS results were 4% different. The QA phantom has been integrated as a routine QA procedure for the patient's IMRT dose verification at Stanford since 1999.     

Dosimetric evaluation of a dedicated stereotactic linear accelerator using measurement and Monte Carlo simulation

Dosimetric parameters of a dedicated stereotactic linear accelerator have been investigated using measurements and Monte Carlo simulations. This linac has a unique built in multileaf collimation (MLC) system with the maximum opening of 16 x 21 cm2 and 4 mm leaf width at the isocenter and has successfully been modeled for the first time using the Monte Carlo simulation. The high resolution MLC, combined with its relatively large maximum field size, opens up a new opportunity for expanding stereotactic radiation treatment techniques from traditionally treating smaller targets to larger ones for both cranial and extracranial lesions. Dosimetric parameters of this linac such as accuracy of leaf positioning and field shaping, leakage and transmission, percentage depth doses, off-axes dose profiles, and dose penumbras were measured and calculated for different field sizes, depths, and source to surface distances. In addition, the ability of the linac in accurate dose delivery of several treatment plans, including intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT), performed on phantom and patients was determined. Ionization chamber, photon diode detector, films, several solid water phantoms, and a water tank were used for the measurements. The MLC leaf positioning to any particular point in the maximum aperture was accurate with a standard deviation of 0.29 mm. Maximum and average leakages were 1.7% and 1.1% for the reference field of 10.4 x 9.6 cm2. Measured penumbra widths (80%-20%) for this field at source axis distance (SAD) of 100 cm at a depth of 1.5 cm (dmax) were 3.2 and 4 mm for the leaf-sides and leaf-ends, respectively. The corresponding results at 10 cm depth and SAD =100 cm were 5.4 and 6.3 mm. Monte Carlo results generally agreed with the measurements to within 1% and or 1 mm, with respective uncertainties of 0.5% and 0.2 mm. The linac accuracy in delivering non-IMRT treatment plans was better than 1%. Ionization chamber dosimetry results for a phantom IMRT plan in the high dose and low dose regions were -0.5% and +3.6%, respectively. Dosimetry results at isocenter for three patients' IMRT plans were measured to be within 3% of their corresponding treatment plans. Film dosimetry was also used to compare dose distributions of IMRT treatment plans and delivered cumulative doses at different cross sectional planes.     

An integrated Monte Carlo dosimetric verification system for radiotherapy treatment planning

An integrated Monte Carlo (MC) dose calculation system, MCRTV (Monte Carlo for radiotherapy treatment plan verification), has been developed for clinical treatment plan verification, especially for routine quality assurance (QA) of intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) plans. The MCRTV system consists of the EGS4/PRESTA MC codes originally written for particle transport through the accelerator, the multileaf collimator (MLC), and the patient/phantom, which run on a 28-CPU Linux cluster, and the associated software developed for the clinical implementation. MCRTV has an interface with a commercial treatment planning system (TPS) (Eclipse, Varian Medical Systems, Palo Alto, CA, USA) and reads the information needed for MC computation transferred in DICOM-RT format. The key features of MCRTV have been presented in detail in this paper. The phase-space data of our 15 MV photon beam from a Varian Clinac 2300C/D have been developed and several benchmarks have been performed under homogeneous and several inhomogeneous conditions (including water, aluminium, lung and bone media). The MC results agreed with the ionization chamber measurements to within 1% and 2% for homogeneous and inhomogeneous conditions, respectively. The MC calculation for a clinical prostate IMRT treatment plan validated the implementation of the beams and the patient/phantom configuration in MCRTV.     

Three-dimensional dose verification for intensity modulated radiation therapy using optical CT based polymer gel dosimetry

Dose distributions generated from intensity-modulated-radiation-therapy (IMRT) treatment planning present high dose gradient regions in the boundaries between the target and the surrounding critical organs. Dose accuracy in these areas can be critical, and may affect the treatment. With the increasing use of IMRT in radiotherapy, there is an increased need for a dosimeter that allows for accurate determination of three-dimensional (3D) dose distributions with high spatial resolution. In this study, polymer gel dosimetry and an optical CT scanner have been employed to implement 3D dose verification for IMRT. A plastic cylinder of 17 cm diameter and 12 cm height, filled with BANG3 polymer gels (MGS Research, Inc., Madison, CT) and modified to optimal dose-response characteristics, was used for IMRT dose verification. The cylindrical gel phantom was immersed in a 24 x 24 x 20 cm water tank for an IMRT irradiation. The irradiated gel sample was then scanned with an optical CT scanner (MGS Research Inc., Madison, CT) utilizing a single He-Ne laser beam and a single photodiode detector. Similar to the x-ray CT process, filtered back-projection was used to reconstruct the 3D dose distribution. The dose distributions measured from the gel were compared with those from the IMRT treatment planning system. For comparative dosimetry, a solid water phantom of 24 x 24 x 20 cm, having the same geometry as the water tank for the gel phantom, was used for EDR2 film and ion chamber measurements. Root mean square (rms) deviations for both dose difference and distance-to-agreement (DTA) were used in three-dimensional analysis of the dose distribution comparison between treatment planning calculations and the gel measurement. Comparison of planar dose distributions among gel dosimeter, film, and the treatment planning system showed that the isodose lines were in good agreement on selected planes in axial, coronal, and sagittal orientations. Absolute point-dose verification was performed with ion chamber measurements at four different points, varying from 48% to 110% of the prescribed dose. The measured and calculated doses were found to agree to within 4.2% at all measurement points. For the comparison between the gel measurement and treatment planning calculations, rms deviations were 2%-6% for dose difference and 1-3 mm for DTA, at 60%-110% doses levels. The results from this study show that optical CT based polymer gel dosimetry has the potential to provide a high resolution, accurate, three-dimensional tool for IMRT dose distribution verification.