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4-Years Experience of QA in TomoTherapy MVCT: What Do We Look Out For?

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F Lee

F Lee*, K Chan , Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Hong Kong, Hong Kong

Presentations

SU-F-T-489 (Sunday, July 31, 2016) 3:00 PM - 6:00 PM Room: Exhibit Hall


Purpose:To evaluate the QA results of TomoTherapy MVCT from March 2012 to February 2016, and to identify issues that may affect consistency in HU numbers and reconstructed treatment dose in MVCT.

Methods:Monthly QA was performed on our TomoHD system. Phantom with rod inserts of various mass densities was imaged in MVCT and compared to baseline to evaluate HU number consistency. To evaluate treatment dose reconstructed by delivered sinogram and MVCT, a treatment plan was designed on a humanoid skull phantom. The phantom was imaged with MVCT and treatment plan was delivered to obtain the sinogram. The dose reconstructed with the Planned Adaptive software was compared to the dose in the original plan. The QA tolerance for HU numbers was ±30 HU, and ±2% for discrepancy between original plan dose and reconstructed dose. Tolerances were referenced to AAPM TG148.

Results:Several technical modifications or maintenance activities to the system have been identified which affected QA results: 1) Upgrade in console system software which added a weekly HU calibration procedure; 2) Linac or MLC replacement leading to change in Accelerator Output Machine (AOM) parameters; 3) Upgrade in planning system algorithm affecting MVCT dose reconstruction. These events caused abrupt changes in QA results especially for the reconstructed dose. In the past 9 months, when no such modifications were done to the system, reconstructed dose was consistent with maximum deviation from baseline less than 0.6%. The HU number deviated less than 5HU.

Conclusion:Routine QA is essential for MVCT, especially if the MVCT is used for daily dose reconstruction to monitor delivered dose to patients. Several technical events which may affect consistency of this are software changes, linac or MLC replacement. QA results reflected changes which justify re-calibration or system adjustment. In normal circumstances, the system should be relatively stable and quarterly QA may be sufficient.


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