Dosimetry and treatment planning of complex electron arc therapy

Monte Carlo calculation of monitor unit for electron arc therapy

PURPOSE

Monitor unit (MU) calculations for electron are therapy were carried out using Monte Carlo simulations and verified by measurements. Variations in the dwell factor (DF), source-to-surface distance (SSD), and treatment are angle (a) were studied. Moreover, the possibility of measuring the DF, which requires gantry rotation, using a solid water rectangular, instead of cylindrical, phantom was investigated.

METHODS

A phase space file based on the 9 MeV electron beam with rectangular cutout (physical size = 2.6 x 21 cm2) attached to the block tray holder of a Varian 21 EX linear accelerator (linac) was generated using the EGSnrc-based Monte Carlo code and verified by measurement. The relative output factor (ROF), SSD offset, and DF, needed in the MU calculation, were determined using measurements and Monte Carlo simulations. An ionization chamber, a radiographic film, a solid water rectangular phantom, and a cylindrical phantom made of polystyrene were used in dosimetry measurements.

RESULTS

Percentage deviations of ROF, SSD offset, and DF between measured and Monte Carlo results were 1.2%, 0.18%, and 1.5%, respectively. It was found that the DF decreased with an increase in a, and such a decrease in DF was more significant in the a range of 0 degrees-60 degrees than 60 degrees-120 degrees. Moreover, for a fixed a, the DF increased with an increase in SSD. Comparing the DF determined using the rectangular and cylindrical phantom through measurements and Monte Carlo simulations, it was found that the DF determined by the rectangular phantom agreed well with that by the cylindrical one within +/- 1.2%. It shows that a simple setup of a solid water rectangular phantom was sufficient to replace the cylindrical phantom using our specific cutout to determine the DF associated with the electron arc.

CONCLUSIONS

By verifying using dosimetry measurements, Monte Carlo simulations proved to be an alternative way to perform MU calculations effectively for electron are therapy. Since Monte Carlo simulations can generate a precalculated database of ROF, SSD offset, and DF for the MU calculation, with a reduction in human effort and linac beam-on time, it is recommended that Monte Carlo simulations be partially or completely integrated into the commissioning of electron are therapy.

Recommendations for clinical electron beam dosimetry: supplement to the recommendations of Task Group 25

The goal of Task Group 25 (TG-25) of the Radiation Therapy Committee of the American Association of.Physicists in Medicine (AAPM) was to provide a methodology and set of procedures for a medical physicist performing clinical electron beam dosimetry in the nominal energy range of 5-25 MeV. Specifically, the task group recommended procedures for acquiring basic information required for acceptance testing and treatment planning of new accelerators with therapeutic electron beams. Since the publication of the TG-25 report, significant advances have taken place in the field of electron beam dosimetry, the most significant being that primary standards laboratories around the world have shifted from calibration standards based on exposure or air kerma to standards based on absorbed dose to water. The AAPM has published a new calibration protocol, TG-51, for the calibration of high-energy photon and electron beams. The formalism and dosimetry procedures recommended in this protocol are based on the absorbed dose to water calibration coefficient of an ionization chamber at 60Co energy, N60Co(D,w), together with the theoretical beam quality conversion coefficient k(Q) for the determination of absorbed dose to water in high-energy photon and electron beams. Task Group 70 was charged to reassess and update the recommendations in TG-25 to bring them into alignment with report TG-51 and to recommend new methodologies and procedures that would allow the practicing medical physicist to initiate and continue a high quality program in clinical electron beam dosimetry. This TG-70 report is a supplement to the TG-25 report and enhances the TG-25 report by including new topics and topics that were not covered in depth in the TG-25 report. These topics include procedures for obtaining data to commission a treatment planning computer, determining dose in irregularly shaped electron fields, and commissioning of sophisticated special procedures using high-energy electron beams. The use of radiochromic film for electrons is addressed, and radiographic film that is no longer available has been replaced by film that is available. Realistic stopping-power data are incorporated when appropriate along with enhanced tables of electron fluence data. A larger list of clinical applications of electron beams is included in the full TG-70 report available at http://www.aapm.org/pubs/reports. Descriptions of the techniques in the clinical sections are not exhaustive but do describe key elements of the procedures and how to initiate these programs in the clinic. There have been no major changes since the TG-25 report relating to flatness and symmetry, surface dose, use of thermoluminescent dosimeters or diodes, virtual source position designation, air gap corrections, oblique incidence, or corrections for inhomogeneities. Thus these topics are not addressed in the TG-70 report.