The Commissioning and Validation of EclipseTM Treatment Planning System on a Varian VitalBeamTM Medical Linear Accelerator for Photon and Electron Beams

Abstract

Purpose: Commissioning of a linear accelerator is a process of acquiring a set of data used for patient treatment. This article presents the beam data measurement results from the commissioning of a VitalBeamTM linac.
 Materials and Methods: Dosimetric properties for 6,10, and 15 MV photon beams and 6, 9, 12, and 16 MeV electron beams have been performed. Parameters, including Percentage Depth Dose (PDD), depth dose profile, symmetry, flatness, quality index, output factors, and the vital data for Treatment Planning System (TPS) commissioning were measured. The imported data were checked by CIRS phantom accordingly to IAEA TRS-430, TECDOC. Eight different positions of CIRS phantom CT were planned and treated. Finally, the calculated dose at a determined position was compared with measuring data to TPS validation.
 Results: After comparing 84 points in a different plan, the 83 points were in agreement with the criteria, and just for one point in 15 MV failed.
 Conclusion: Commissioning of dose and field flatness and symmetry are in tolerance intervals given by Varian. This proves that the studied lines meet the specification and can be used in clinical practice with all available electron and photon energies.

Implementation of TRS-398 Protocol in Routine Calibration of Linac by Determination of Slab Phantom on Water Phantom Correction Factor

“…After getting the zref value, the absolute dosimetry measurement is conducted by placing the detector on zref. Samira Yazdani et al also investigated the reference depth (zref) for commissioning and validation of Varian LINAC and obtained zref for 6,10,12 MeV electron equal to 1.3, 2, and 2.8 cm, respectively, which were in congruence with our results[8].| 87 SPEKTRA:…”

“…The measurement of LINAC output dose is part of the Quality Assurance (QA) program and the Quality Control (QC) of radiotherapy facilities [7]. Quality Assurance is a regular program or activity to ensure the consistency of medical stages [8]. Whereas QC is a routine measurement action carried out to monitor visual performance and equipment performance testing so that the output quality can be guaranteed.…”

“…TPR20.10 can also be calculated from fitting to the PDD data at 10 cm depth (PDD10) measured at an 100 cm SSD and a 10 cm x 10 cm field size, see EQUATION (1) [12,21]. Another empirical relationship is also used for calculating TPR20.10 using PDD20.10 as shown in EQUATION (2) [8,22]. PDD20.10 is the PDD ratio at depth of 20 cm to 10 cm.…”

“…In contrast, the stability of the beam of radiation output of the LINAC greatly influences the dose distribution received by the patient. Therefore, the LINAC requires a routine calibration to control the accuracy of the patient's received dose, which included in the quality control procedures in the quality management system [7,8]. Various dosimetry methods have been developed for calibration with various specified reference conditions both of absolute dosimetry and relative dosimetry, for instance ionomic dosimetry, gel dosimetry, film dosimetry, luminescence dosimetry, and others [9,10,11].…”

Evaluation of in vitro irradiation setup: Designed for the horizontal beamline at the Danish Centre for Particle Therapy

“…Both controls and irradiated samples were exposed to same environmental conditions. Proton, 18 MeV electrons and 6 MeV photon plans were made in Eclipse treatment planning system (TPS) (Eclipse 16.1, Varian Medial Systems, Palo Alto, USA) [8], and proton field uniformity was verified using radiochromic films [9]. Dosimetric uncertainty was thoroughly evaluated for all proton, electron and photon irradiations and were determined to be below, respectively, 4%, 3% and 3%.…”