Program Information
Electron Gun Operation for in Line MRI-Linac Configurations: An Assessment of Beam Fidelity and Recovery Techniques for Different SIDs and Magnetic Field Strengths
B Whelan1,2*, D Constantin3,4 , L Holloway2,5 , S Kolling1 , B Oborn6 , R Fahrig3 , P Keall1,2 , (1) University of Sydney, Camperdown, Aus, (2) Ingham Institute, Liverpool, Aus, (3) Stanford University, Stanford, CA, (4) Varian Medical Systems, Palo Alto, CA, (5) Liverpool Cancer Therapy Centre, Sydney, Aus, (6) Illawarra Cancer Care Centre, Wollongong, NSW, ,
Presentations
WE-G-17A-8 Wednesday 4:30PM - 6:00PM Room: 17APurpose: To test the functionality of medical electron guns within the fringe field of a purpose built superconducting MRI magnet, and to test different recovery techniques for a variety of imaging field strengths and SIDs.
Methods: Three different electron guns were simulated using Finite Element Modelling; a standard diode gun, a standard triode gun, and a novel diode gun designed to operate within parallel magnetic fields. The approximate working regime of each gun was established by assessing exit current in constant magnetic fields of varying strength and defining ‘working’ as less than 10% change in injection current. Next, the 1.0T MRI magnet was simulated within Comsol Multiphysics. The coil currents in this model were also scaled to produce field strengths of .5, 1, 1.5 and 3T. Various magnetic shield configurations were simulated, varying the SID from 800 to 1300mm. The average magnetic field within the gun region was assessed together with the distortion in the imaging volume - greater than 150uT distortion was considered unacceptable.
Results: The conventional guns functioned in fields of less than 7.5mT. Conversely, the redesigned diode required fields greater than .1T to function correctly. Magnetic shielding was feasible for SIDS of greater than 1000mm for field strengths of .5T and 1T, and 1100mm for 1.5 and 3.0T. Beyond these limits shielding resulted in unacceptable MRI distortion. In contrast, the redesigned diode could perform acceptably for SIDs of less than 812, 896, 931, and 974mm for imaging strengths of 0.5, 1.0, 1.5, 3.0T.
Conclusions: For in-line MRI-linac configurations where the electron gun is operating in low field regions, shielding is a straight forward option. However, as magnetic field strength increases and the SID is reduced, shielding results in too great a distortion in the MRI and redesigning the electron optics is the preferable solution.
Funding Support, Disclosures, and Conflict of Interest: The authors would like to acknowledge funding from the National Health and Research Council (AUS), National Institute of Health (NIH), and Cancer Institute NSW.
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