Pornpirom Laojunun.. Evaluation of planar and cylindrical diode array for IMRT and VMAT plan verification. Master's Degree(Medical Physics). Mahidol University. Mahidol University Library and Knowledge Center. : Mahidol University, 2014.
Evaluation of planar and cylindrical diode array for IMRT and VMAT plan verification
Abstract:
The aim of this study was to evaluate the use of the planar and cylindrical diode arrays for IMRT and VMAT plan verification. Two diode detector arrays were compared for their use in the patient-specific quality assurance of IMRT and VMAT treatment plans: one diode array is a flat panel of diodes (MapCHECK2) positioned with a MapPHAN phantom, while the other is a cylindrical phantom with the diodes placed in a spiral array (ArcCHECK). Both devices were tested for the dose linearity over a range of 20-400 MU and a repetition rate over the range of 100 to 600 MU/min of 6 and 10 MV, photons delivered via a static 10x10 cm2 field. The dependence of the response of detectors on field size was measured and compared with Farmer-type ionization chamber. The short-term and long-term reproducibility and the array calibration were also examined to understand the stability and uncertainty of the systems and the angular dependence was studied. The performance of the dosimeter system was then evaluated using IMRT and VMAT plans. The study included the planning of 7 coplanar plans (head and neck, pelvic, abdominal region) and 3 non-coplanar plans (brain) with IMRT and VMAT which were performed using a Varian Clinac iX. The measured doses were compared to the TPS dose and analyzed using gamma analysis with criteria of 3%/3 mm. No repetition rate or field size dependence was observed within the range of the field sizes and dose rate used in the study for both 6 and 10 MV photon energies. Both detector arrays showed linearity of dose and a stable short-term and long-term reproducibility. We found relatively large discrepancies in angular response (up to 39%) for MapCHECK2 and 17% for ArcCHECK. For IMRT plans delivered at planned angles, MapCHECK2 results showed a lower average gamma passing rate (93.4%) compared to measurements (97.8%) delivered at fixed 0 degree gantry angles. The ArcCHECK results showed average differences between measured and calculated values of 93.8%. For VMAT plans, the average passing rate was 99.3% and 97.8% using MapHECK2 and ArcCHECK respectively. The measured differences between IMRT and VMAT QA results for non-coplanar were small, except the MapCHECK2 results showed averages of 63.9% for the IMRT plans delivered at a planned angle. ArcCHECK is an efficient and valuable tool for both IMRT and VMAT QA, it achieved an above 95% pass rate. With MapCHECK2 an excellent agreement was observed between the measurement and the verification dose for VMAT and IMRT QA when measured at gantry zero degree. But the application of the array to planned gantry angle IMRT QA requires careful consideration.