Encrypted login | home

Program Information

Commissioning An Elekta VersaHD Linear Accelerator


G Narayanasamy

G Narayanasamy1*, D Saenz1 , W Cruz1 , P Mavroidis2 , N Papanikolaou1 , S Stathakis1 , (1) University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, TX, (2) University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC.

Presentations

SU-E-T-190 (Sunday, July 12, 2015) 3:00 PM - 6:00 PM Room: Exhibit Hall


Purpose:The purpose of this study is to report the dosimetric aspects of commissioning performed on an Elekta VersaHD linear accelerator with high dose rate flattening-filter-free (FFF) photon modes and electron modes.

Methods:Acceptance and commissioning was performed on an Elekta VersaHD linac with 5 photon energies (6MV, 10MV, 18MV, 6FFF, 10FFF), 4 electron energies (6MeV, 9MeV, 12MeV, 15MeV) and 160 leaf (5mm wide) multi-leaf collimators (MLCs). Mechanical and dosimetric data was measured and evaluated. The measurements include percent depth doses (PDDs), inplane and crossplane profiles, head scatter factor (Sc), relative photon output factors (Scp), universal wedge transmission factor, MLC transmission factors, and electron cone factors.

Results:Gantry, collimator, couch isocentricity measurements were within 1mm, 0.7mm and 0.7mm diameter respectively. The PDDs of 6FFF and 10FFF beams show deeper dmax and steeper fall-off with depth than the corresponding flattened beams. While flatness values of 6FFF and 10FFF normalized profiles were higher than the corresponding flattened beams, the symmetry values were almost identical. The crossplane penumbra values were higher than the inplane penumbra values for all the energies. The MLC transmission values were 0.5%, 0.6% and 0.6% for 6MV, 10MV, and 18MV photon beams. The electron PDDs, profiles and cone factors is validated by literature.

Conclusion:The outcome of radiation treatment is directly related to the accuracy in the dose modeled in the treatment planning system which is based on the commissioned data. Commissioning data provided us a valuable insight into the dosimetric characteristics of the beam. This set of commissioning data can provide comparison data to others performing VersaHD commissioning thus improving patient safety.


Contact Email: