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Muir B, Davis S, Dhanesar S, Hillman Y, Iakovenko V, Kim GGY, Alves VGL, Lei Y, Lowenstein J, Renaud J, Sarfehnia A, Siebers J, Tantôt L. AAPM WGTG51 Report 385: Addendum to the AAPM's TG-51 protocol for clinical reference dosimetry of high-energy electron beams. Med Phys 2024. [PMID: 38980220 DOI: 10.1002/mp.17277] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/08/2023] [Revised: 03/29/2024] [Accepted: 06/14/2024] [Indexed: 07/10/2024] Open
Abstract
An Addendum to the AAPM's TG-51 protocol for the determination of absorbed dose to water is presented for electron beams with energies between 4 MeV and 22 MeV (1.70 cm ≤ R 50 ≤ 8.70 cm $1.70\nobreakspace {\rm cm} \le R_{\text{50}} \le 8.70\nobreakspace {\rm cm}$ ). This updated formalism allows simplified calibration procedures, including the use of calibrated cylindrical ionization chambers in all electron beams without the use of a gradient correction. Newk Q $k_{Q}$ data are provided for electron beams based on Monte Carlo simulations. Implementation guidance is provided. Components of the uncertainty budget in determining absorbed dose to water at the reference depth are discussed. Specifications for a reference-class chamber in electron beams include chamber stability, settling, ion recombination behavior, and polarity dependence. Progress in electron beam reference dosimetry is reviewed. Although this report introduces some major changes (e.g., gradient corrections are implicitly included in the electron beam quality conversion factors), they serve to simplify the calibration procedure. Results for absorbed dose per linac monitor unit are expected to be up to approximately 2 % higher using this Addendum compared to using the original TG-51 protocol.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bryan Muir
- Metrology Research Centre, National Research Council of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
| | - Stephen Davis
- Department of Radiation Oncology, Miami Cancer Institute, Miami, Florida, USA
| | - Sandeep Dhanesar
- Department of Radiation Oncology, Houston Methodist Hospital, Houston, Texa, USA
| | - Yair Hillman
- Department of Radiation Oncology, Sharett Institute of Oncology, Hadassah Medical Center, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel
| | | | - Grace Gwe-Ya Kim
- Department of Radiation Medicine and Applied Sciences, UC San Diego School of Medicine, San Diego, California, USA
| | | | - Yu Lei
- Department of Radiation Oncology, University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, Nebraska, USA
| | - Jessica Lowenstein
- Department of Radiation Physics, UT M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texa, USA
| | - James Renaud
- Metrology Research Centre, National Research Council of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
| | - Arman Sarfehnia
- Department of Radiation Oncology, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada
- Department of Medical Physics, Odette Cancer Centre, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
| | - Jeffrey Siebers
- Department of Radiation Oncology, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia, USA
| | - Laurent Tantôt
- Département de radio-oncologie, CIUSSS de l'Est-de-l'Île-de-Montréal - Hôpital Maisonneuve-Rosemont, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
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Ding GX. Stopping-power ratios for electron beams used in total skin electron therapy. Med Phys 2021; 48:5472-5478. [PMID: 34287969 DOI: 10.1002/mp.15121] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/23/2021] [Revised: 06/28/2021] [Accepted: 07/12/2021] [Indexed: 11/10/2022] Open
Abstract
PURPOSE The electron beams for total skin electron therapy (TSET) are often degraded by a scatter plate in addition to extended distances. For electron dosimetry, both the AAPM TG-51 and IAEA TRS-398 recommend the use of two formulas developed by Burns et al [Med. Phys. 23, 489-501 (1996)] to estimate the water-to-air stopping-power ratios (SPRs). Both formulas are based on a fit to SPRs calculated for standard electron beams. This study aims to find: (1) if the formulas are applicable to beams used in TSET and (2) the impact of the ICRU report 90 recommendations on the SPRs for these beams. METHODS The EGSnrc Monte Carlo code system is used to generate 6 MeV high dose rate total skin electron (HDTSe) beams used in TSET. The simulated beams are used to calculate dose distributions and SPRs as a function of depth in a water phantom. The fitted SPRs using the empirical formulas are compared with MC-calculated SPRs. RESULTS The electron beam quality specifier, the depth in water at which the absorbed dose falls to 50% of its maximum value, R50 , decreases approximately 1 mm for each additional 100-cm extended distance ranging from 2.24 cm at SSD = 100 to 1.72 cm at SSD = 700 cm. For beams passing through a scatter plate, R50 is 1.76 cm (1.14) at SSD = 300 and 1.48 cm (0.85 cm) at SSD = 600 cm with an Acrylic plate thickness of 3 mm (9 mm), respectively. The discrepancy between fitted and MC-calculated SPRs at dref as a function of R50 is <0.8%, and in many cases <0.4%. The difference between fitted and MC-calculated SPRs as a function of depth and R50 is within 1% at depths <0.8R50 for beams with R50 ≥ 1.14 cm. The ICRU-90 recommendations decrease SPRs by 0.3%-0.4% compared to the use of data recommended in ICRU-37. CONCLUSION The formulas used by the major protocols are accurate enough for clinical beams used in TSET and the error caused using the formulas is <1% to estimate SPRs as a function of depth and R50 for depths <0.8R50 for beams used in TSET with R50 ≥ 1.14 cm. The impact of the ICRU-90 recommendations shows a decrease of SPRs by a fraction of a percent for beams used in TSET.
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Affiliation(s)
- George X Ding
- Department of Radiation Oncology, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, Tennessee, USA
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Holm KM, Jäkel O, Krauss A. Water calorimetry-based kQfactors for Farmer-type ionization chambers in the SOBP of a carbon-ion beam. Phys Med Biol 2021; 66. [PMID: 34153952 DOI: 10.1088/1361-6560/ac0d0d] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/31/2021] [Accepted: 06/21/2021] [Indexed: 11/12/2022]
Abstract
The dosimetry of carbon-ion beams based on calibrated ionization chambers (ICs) still shows a significantly higher uncertainty compared to high-energy photon beams, a fact influenced mainly by the uncertainty of the correction factor for the beam qualitykQ. Due to a lack of experimental data,kQfactors in carbon-ion beams used today are based on theoretical calculations whose standard uncertainty is three times higher than that of photon beams. To reduce their uncertainty, in this work,kQfactors for two ICs were determined experimentally by means of water calorimetry for the spread-out Bragg peak of a carbon-ion beam, these factors are presented here for the first time. To this end, the absorbed dose to water in the12C-SOBP is measured using the water calorimeter developed at Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt, allowing a direct calibration of the ICs used (PTW 30013 and IBA FC65G) and thereby an experimental determination of the chamber-specifickQfactors. Based on a detailed characterization of the irradiation field, correction factors for several effects that influence calorimetric and ionometric measurements were determined. Their contribution to an overall uncertainty budget of the finalkQfactors was determined, leading to a standard uncertainty forkQof 0.69%, which means a reduction by a factor of three compared to the theoretically calculated values. The experimentally determined values were expressed in accordance with TRS-398 and DIN 6801-1 and compared to the values given there. A maximum deviation of 2.3% was found between the experiment and the literature.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kim Marina Holm
- Department of Dosimetry for Radiation Therapy and Diagnostic Radiology, Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB), Bundesallee 100, D-38116 Braunschweig, Germany.,Department of Medical Physics in Radiation Oncology, German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), Im Neuenheimer Feld 280, D-69120 Heidelberg, Germany.,Heidelberg Institute for Radiation Oncology (HIRO), Heidelberg, Germany.,Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Heidelberg, Im Neuenheimer Feld 226, D-69120 Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Oliver Jäkel
- Department of Medical Physics in Radiation Oncology, German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), Im Neuenheimer Feld 280, D-69120 Heidelberg, Germany.,Heidelberg Institute for Radiation Oncology (HIRO), Heidelberg, Germany.,Heidelberg Ion Beam Therapy Center (HIT), University Hospital Heidelberg, Im Neuenheimer Feld 450, D-69120 Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Achim Krauss
- Department of Dosimetry for Radiation Therapy and Diagnostic Radiology, Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB), Bundesallee 100, D-38116 Braunschweig, Germany
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Krauss A, Spindeldreier CK, Klüter S. Direct determination of [Formula: see text] for cylindrical ionization chambers in a 6 MV 0.35 T MR-linac. Phys Med Biol 2020; 65:235049. [PMID: 33300501 DOI: 10.1088/1361-6560/abab56] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/11/2022]
Abstract
To ensure accurate reference dosimetry with ionization chambers in magnetic resonance linear accelerators (MR-linacs), the influence of the magnetic field on the response of the ionization chambers must be considered. The most direct method considering the influence of magnetic fields in dosimetry is to apply an appropriate absorbed-dose-to-water primary standard. At PTB, a new water calorimeter has been designed which is capable to determine Dw,Q in an MR-linac. The new device allows the direct calibration of ionization chambers in terms of absorbed dose to water for MR-linac irradiation conditions. Hence, the correction factors [Formula: see text] can be determined which replace the current radiation-quality dependent correction factors [Formula: see text] for dosimetry in the presence of magnetic fields. In cooperation with Heidelberg University Hospital,[Formula: see text] factors were measured at the 6 MV 0.35 T Viewray MR-linac for different cylindrical ionization chambers with sensitive volumes ranging from 0.015 cm3 to 0.65 cm3. The chambers were placed both perpendicular and parallel in respect to the magnetic field. Standard uncertainties of about 0.5% were achieved.
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Affiliation(s)
- A Krauss
- Department of Dosimetry for Radiation Therapy and Diagnostic Radiology, Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB), Bundesallee 100, D-38116, Braunschweig, Germany
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D'Souza M, Nusrat H, Renaud J, Peterson G, Sarfehnia A. First-stage validation of a portable imageable MR-compatible water calorimeter. Med Phys 2020; 47:5312-5323. [PMID: 32786081 DOI: 10.1002/mp.14448] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/04/2020] [Revised: 07/24/2020] [Accepted: 07/31/2020] [Indexed: 11/07/2022] Open
Abstract
PURPOSE The purpose of this study is to design a water calorimeter with three goals in mind: (a) To be fully magnetic resonance (MR)-compatible; (b) To be imaged using kV cone beam computed tomography (CBCT), MV portal imaging or MRI for accurate positioning; (c) To accommodate both vertical and horizontal beam incidence, as well as volumetric deliveries or Gamma Knife®. Following this, the calorimeter performance will be measured using an accelerator-based high-energy photon beam. METHODS A portable 4°C cooled stagnant water calorimeter was built using MR-compatible materials. The walls consist of layers of acrylic plastic, aerogel-based material acting as thermal insulation, as well as tubing for coolant to flow to keep the calorimeter temperature stable at 4°C. The lid contains additional pathways for coolant to flow through as well as two hydraulically driven stirrers. The water calorimeter was positioned in an Elekta Versa using kV CBCT imaging as well as orthogonal MV image pairs. Absolute absorbed dose to water was then determined under a 6 MV flattening filter-free (FFF) beam. This was compared against reference dosimetry results that were measured under identical conditions with an Exradin A1SL ionization chamber with a calibration coefficient directly traceable to the National Research Council Canada. RESULTS The dose to water determined with the calorimeter (n = 30) agreed with the A1SL ionization chamber reference dose measurements (n = 15) to within 0.25%. The uncertainty associated with the water calorimeter absorbed dose measurement was estimated to be 0.54% (k = 1). CONCLUSIONS An MR-compatible water calorimeter was successfully built and absolute absorbed dose to water under a conventional 6 MV FFF beam was determined successfully as a first-stage validation of the system.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mark D'Souza
- Department of Physics, Ryerson University, 350 Victoria St., Toronto, ON, M5B 2K3, Canada
| | - Humza Nusrat
- Department of Radiation Oncology, University of Toronto, 2075 Bayview Ave., Toronto, ON, M4N 3M5, Canada.,Department of Medical Physics, Sunnybrook Odette Cancer Centre, 2075 Bayview Ave, Toronto, ON, M4N 3M5, Canada
| | - James Renaud
- Metrology Research Centre, National Research Council Canada, Montreal Rd., Ottawa, ON, K1A 0R6, Canada.,Medical Physics Unit, McGill University, 1001 Decarie Blvd., Montreal, QC, H4A 3J1, Canada
| | - Gerard Peterson
- Department of Medical Physics, Sunnybrook Odette Cancer Centre, 2075 Bayview Ave, Toronto, ON, M4N 3M5, Canada
| | - Arman Sarfehnia
- Department of Physics, Ryerson University, 350 Victoria St., Toronto, ON, M5B 2K3, Canada.,Department of Radiation Oncology, University of Toronto, 2075 Bayview Ave., Toronto, ON, M4N 3M5, Canada.,Department of Medical Physics, Sunnybrook Odette Cancer Centre, 2075 Bayview Ave, Toronto, ON, M4N 3M5, Canada.,Medical Physics Unit, McGill University, 1001 Decarie Blvd., Montreal, QC, H4A 3J1, Canada
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Renaud J, Palmans H, Sarfehnia A, Seuntjens J. Absorbed dose calorimetry. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2020; 65:05TR02. [DOI: 10.1088/1361-6560/ab4f29] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/16/2023]
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Muir BR. A modified formalism for electron beam reference dosimetry to improve the accuracy of linac output calibration. Med Phys 2020; 47:2267-2276. [PMID: 31985833 DOI: 10.1002/mp.14048] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/15/2019] [Revised: 12/20/2019] [Accepted: 01/20/2020] [Indexed: 11/11/2022] Open
Abstract
PURPOSE To present and demonstrate the accuracy of a modified formalism for electron beam reference dosimetry using updated Monte Carlo calculated beam quality conversion factors. METHODS The proposed, simplified formalism allows the use of cylindrical ionization chambers in all electron beams (even those with low beam energies) and does not require a measured gradient correction factor. Data from a previous publication are used for beam quality conversion factors. The formalism is tested and compared to the present formalism in the AAPM TG-51 protocol with measurements made in Elekta Precise electron beams with energies between 4 MeV and 22 MeV and with fields shaped with a 10 × 10 cm2 clinical applicator as well as a 20 × 20 cm2 clinical applicator for the 18 MeV and 22 MeV beams. A set of six ionization chambers are used for measurements (two cylindical reference-class chambers, two scanning-type chambers and two parallel-plate chambers). Dose per monitor unit is derived using the data and formalism provided in the TG-51 protocol and with the proposed formalism and data and compared to that obtained using ionization chambers calibrated directly against primary standards for absorbed dose in electron beams. RESULTS The standard deviation of results using different chambers when TG-51 is followed strictly is on the order of 0.4% when parallel-plate chambers are cross-calibrated against cylindrical chambers. However, if parallel-plate chambers are directly calibrated in a cobalt-60 beam, the difference between results for these chambers is up to 2.2%. Using the proposed formalism and either directly calibrated or cross-calibrated parallel-plate chambers gives a standard deviation using different chambers of 0.4%. The difference between results that use TG-51 and the primary standard measurements are on the order of 0.6% with a maximum difference in the 4 MeV beam of 2.8%. Comparing the results obtained with the proposed formalism and the primary standard measurements are on the order of 0.4% with a maximum difference of 1.0% in the 4 MeV beam. CONCLUSIONS The proposed formalism and the use of updated data for beam quality conversion factors improves the consistency of results obtained with different chamber types and improves the accuracy of reference dosimetry measurements. Moreover, it is simpler than the present formalism and will be straightforward to implement clinically.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bryan R Muir
- NRC Metrology Research Centre, National Research Council of Canada, Ottawa, ON, K1A 0R6, Canada
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