Evaluation of SRS MapCHECK with StereoPHAN phantom as a new pre-treatment system verification for SBRT plans

Abstract

Introduction: The aim of this study was to evaluate the new 2-Dimensional diode array SRS MapCHECK (SunNuclear, Melbourne, USA) with dedicated phantom StereoPHAN (SunNuclear, Melbourne, USA) for the pre-treatment verification of the stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT). Material and methods: For the system, the short and mid-long stability, dose linearity with MU, angular dependence, and field size dependence (ratio of relative output factor) were measured. The results of verification for 15 pre-treatment cancer patients (5 brains, 5 lungs, and 5 livers) performed with SRS MapCHECK and EBT3 Gafchromic films were compared. All the SBRT plans were optimized with the Eclipse (v. 15.6, Varian, Palo Alto, USA) treatment planning system (TPS) using the Acuros XB (Varian, Palo Alto, USA) dose calculation algorithm and were delivered to the Varian EDGE® (Varian, Palo Alto, USA) accelerator equipped with a high-definition multileaf collimator. The 6MV flattening-filter-free beam (FFF) was used. Results: Short and mid-long stability of SRS MapCHECK was very good (0.1%-0.2%), dose linearity with MU and dependence of the response of the detector on field size results were also acceptable (for dose linearity R2 = 1 and 6% difference between microDiamond and SRS MapCHECK response for the smallest field of 1 × 1 cm2). The angular dependence was very good except for the angles close to 90° and 270°. For pre-treatment plan verification, the gamma method was used with the criteria of 3% dose difference and 3 mm distance to agreement (3%/3 mm), and 2%/2 mm, 1%/1 mm, 3%/1 mm, and 2%/1 mm. The highest passing rate for all criteria was observed on the SRS MapCHECK system. Conclusions: It is concluded that SRS MapCHECK with StereoPHAN has sufficient potential for pre-treatment verification of the SBRT plans, so that verification of stereotactic plans can be significantly accelerated.