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A Comparison of Small Field Output Factors for Three SRS/SRBT Systems


W Gao

W Gao1*, (1) ,Southern Advanced Medical Physics, Inc. Arlington, TX

SU-E-T-235 Sunday 3:00PM - 6:00PM Room: Exhibit Hall

Purpose: Dosimetry measurement for small fields used in SRS/SBRT is challenging and the results can vary between institutions especially when different detectors are used. There are several reports in recent years that serious errors occurred in SRS/SRBT treatments due to incorrect output measurements in the initial commissioning processes. The present study compares small field output factors measured using a same detector for 6 MV photon beams in three SRS/SRBT systems: Cyberknife (cone), Brainlab (cone), and Varian TrueBEAM (Jaw), and determines if they are close enough to be used for reference purposes in commissioning similar SRS/SRBT systems.

Methods: Relative output factors of small fields were measured by the author using a SRS diode (PTW 60012) in water for 6 MV photons with Cyberknife cones (5 to 60 mm), Brainlab cones on Varian TrueBEAM (5 to 30 mm), and TrueBEAM (Jaw: 10 X 10 mm² to 40 X 40 mm²). The results are compared after being corrected for differences in reference field sizes, measurement distances and depths as defined in the three computer planning systems.

Results: The corrected relative output factors of small fields measured for three systems are within +-2% from the average for collimator sizes larger than or equal to 20 mm, and within +-3% for smaller fields.

Conclusion: The result suggests that it may be feasible to establish a reference dataset of small field output factors for various SRS/SRBT systems and beam shaping devices (cone and MLC), similar to the RPC standard dataset for IMRT fields. Such a reference dataset is not to replace data collections during the institutional commissioning processes, but rather, is used as a secandary check to alert possible errors when large deviations from the reference data are observed.

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