Nuntawat Ou-Dee. The study of dose at the junction field in head and neck cancer treatment . Master's Degree(Medical Physics). Mahidol University. : Mahidol University, 2005.
The study of dose at the junction field in head and neck cancer treatment
Abstract:
The treatment of head and neck cancer commonly uses two lateral fields with an anterior field to create a matching of the junction region. Various techniques are used to match the lateral head and neck fields to the anterior field. The techniques include straight beam, angled beam and half beam. The aim of this study was to assess the average radiation dose delivered at the surface and in the plane of the junction. Beams of 6 MV x-rays from a Clinac 1800 linear accelerator were used. An Alderson Rando phantom was prepared for the placement of 89 TLD, (Thermoluminescent Dosimeter), chips in the transverse plane of the central axis and junction. The comparison between calculated dose of computer treatment planning and measured dose of TLDs at selected points of all treatment techniques and field sizes were agreeable, the average difference was 1.77% and the maximum difference was 5.07%. The measured doses at various points in the junction plane are presented as % dose of normalized at the points of the prescribed dose. The average doses at the junction of the straight beam technique were 104.44%, 118.15% and 128.82% for 12x10, 12x13 and 12x15 cm2, respectively. The average doses at the junction of the angled beam techniques were 88.51%, 95.03% and 103.29% for 12x10, 12x13 and 12x15 cm2, respectively. The average doses at the junction field of the half beam technique were 98.74%, 104.08% and 98.11% for 12x10, 12x13 and 12x15 cm2, respectively. The results showed that the doses both in the phantom and at the surface of phantom of straight beams increase with increasing field size. This is due to the divergence of the beam in the phantom. For angled beam technique, the angle of couch and gantry could not be set accurately according to the plan in the treatment planning computer. This is the cause of under dosage in 12x10 cm2 field sizes .The doses were close to 100% in field sizes 12x13 and 12x15 cm2, which could be set accurately. For the half beam technique, the doses were close to 100% at all field sizes. The superiority of the half beam technique is the avoidance of overdose and under dosage at the junction field including reduction of daily patient set up time, dose homogeneity and better reproducibility.