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Head-Scatter Off-Axis for FFF Megavoltage Photon Beams


T Zhu

T Zhu*, R Penjweini , A Dimofte , University Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA

Presentations

SU-F-T-425 (Sunday, July 31, 2016) 3:00 PM - 6:00 PM Room: Exhibit Hall


Purpose: Head-scatter photons inside a clinical accelerator cause the output to change with collimator setting. On the central-axis, this contribution is well-described by output factor in air (or head-scatter factor). However, a few studies have examined this component at off-axis points.

Methods: We define the head-scatter off-axis ratio, HOA, as the ratio of the water kerma in air due to head-scatter photons at the off-axis position x to the water kerma from direct primary photons on the central axis: HOA(cx,cy,xy) = (Q(cx,cy,x) – QP(cx,cy,x))/QP(cx,cy,0), where Q(cx, cy,x), QP(cx,cy,x) are charges measured by an ionization chamber in a miniphantom for collimator setting cx x cy and cx x 3 cm, respectively, at off-axis point x. “Direct primary” is those photons that come from the source without interactions in the intervening structures.

Results: We measured HOA for two energies (6XFFF and 6X) along X and Y jaw directions for various collimator settings. The shape of HOA has well defined penumbra for collimator setting larger than 10 x 10 cm2.

Conclusion: The narrow gaussian component is interpreted as the source of photons scattered in the flattening filter and the primary collimator. The broad component is attributed to photons scattered in the secondary (variable) collimators. By a direct comparison between 6X and 6XFFF beams, we can confirm that the second component is indeed coming from collimator jaws and identify the parts coming from the primary collimator and the flattening filter, respectively.


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