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Modeling MLC Leaf End in 2D for Sliding Window IMRT and Arc Therapy


X Liang

X Liang*, T Zhu, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA

SU-E-T-380 Sunday 3:00PM - 6:00PM Room: Exhibit Hall

Purpose: To develop a 2D geometric model for MLC accounting for leaf end dose leakage for IMRT and arc therapy.

Methods: Leaf-end dose leakage is one of the problems for MLC dose calculation and modeling. Dosimetric leaf gap used to model the MLC and to count for leakage in dose calculation, but may not be accurate for smaller leaf gaps. We propose another geometric modeling method to compensate for the MLC round-shape leaf ends dose leakage, and improve the accuracy of dose calculation and dose verification. A triangular function is used to geometrically model the MLC leaf end leakage in the leaf motion direction, and a step function is used in the perpendicular direction. Dose measurements with different leaf gap, different window width, and different window height were conducted, and the results were used to fit the analytical model to get the model parameters.

Results: Analytical models have been obtained for stop-and-shoot and dynamic modes for MLC motion. Parameters a=0.4, lw=5.0 mm for 6X and a=0.54, lw=4.1 mm for 15x were obtained from the fitting process. The proposed MLC leaf end model improves the dose profile at the two ends of the sliding window opening. This improvement is especially significant for smaller sliding window openings, which are commonly used for highly modulated IMRT plans and arc therapy plans.

Conclusion: This work models the MLC round leaf end shape and movement pattern for IMRT dose calculation. The theory, as well as the results in this work provides a useful tool for photon beam IMRT dose calculation and verification.

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