• Progress in Medical Physics
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.3-17
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• 1997

Because a wedged beam consists of attenuated primary photons and scattered radiations from wedge, the spectrum of the wedged beam does not coincide with that of an open beam with same geometry. The aims of current report are to get exact information about whether effects of 15-60$^{\circ}$ wedge for 4 -10 MV photon beams should be considered for dose calculation or not, and to suggest a reference condition for measurement of wedge transmission factor. Percent depth dose of both open and wedged fields with angles of 15, 30, 45, 60$^{\circ}$ for beams of 4 MV(Clinac 4/100, Varian), two 6 MV(Clinac 6/100 and Clinac 2100C, Varian), 10 MV(Clinac 2100C, Varian) X-rays were measured to 30cm deep in water using ionization chambers. Hardening factors of photon beams were calculated with measured PDDs. Both field size factors and transmission factors of wedge filters were measured at d$_{max}$ in water. Beam hardening factors of wedged fields of 4 and 6 MV X-ray were larger than 1 for all wedge angles, field sizes and depths deeper than d$_{max}$ Beam hardening factors for wedge angles 15, 30, 45, 60$^{\circ}$ for 10$\times$10cm were respectively 1.010, 1.014, 1.023 and 1.034 for 4MV X-ray, 1.005, 1.008, 1.019, and 1.024 for 6MV X-ray of Clinac 6/100, 1.011, 1.021, 1.032, 1.036 for 6MV X-ray of Clinac 2100C, and 1.008, 1.012, 1.012 and 1.012 for 10MV X-ray. Beam hardening factors of 10MV X-ray were 1 within 1.2％ difference for all wedge angles, depths and field sizes. It was made clear that for 6MV X-rays, the beam hardening factor depends on treatment machine. The relationship of the factor and depth was linear. Field size factor at d$_{max}$ was independent of wedge angle except for the field of 15$\times$15cm. and maximum difference of the field size factors for the field size was 1.4％ for 4MV X-ray. When the wedge factor is determined, dependence of the factor on field size is negligible at d$_{max}$ but should be considered at deeper depth. Calculating dose distribution or MU, the beam hardening factor should be applied for 4~6MV X-ray beams, but might not be considered for 10MV beam. When wedge transmission factor was determined at d$_{max}$ or in air, field size factors for open field are also applicable to wedged fields, but otherwise, field size factor for each wedge or wedge factor depending on field size should be applied.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.93-98
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• 2013

The purpose of this study is to investigate the calibration of an optically stimulated luminescent nanoDot dosimeter(OSLnD) to 6 MV photon beam. Dose ranges of the calibration of linear and non-linear from the analysis of dose response of the OSLnD were decided. To evaluate the accuracy of calibration equation and the calibration, the sets of the calibration and quality control dosimeter were used to make. The calibrations were performed by the linear and the non-linear in the dose range of 0~300 cGy and 20~1300 cGy, respectively. The errors of the calibration were acquired less than 0.1% respectively from the measurement of the quality control dosimeters for the calibration of linear and the non-linear. This study provides the calibration equation of the OSLnD to the 6 MV photon beam.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.8 no.5
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• pp.249-254
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• 2014

Medical linear accelerator is used for radiotherapy since it was developed in 1952, the utilization rate is further increased. It is used high energy radiotherapy using the energy of the photon of 6 MeV or more is universal at present, but the creation of the neutron by photonuclear reaction cause a problem that is radiation exposure of patients and operators. Therefore, in this study, to analyze the spectrum of the photon beam of 6 to 24 MV that occurred in the medical linear accelerator using the Monte Carlo code MCNPX, the number of photons of 7.41 MeV or more, which is a neutron production threshold energy of tungsten and average energy. The result of 24 MV in the beginning and the 8 MV was 0.59% of the total number of detected photons and it was founded that the number of photons are increased which are possible to cause the photonuclear reaction.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.197-203
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• 2017

This study purpose is propose the basic data for selecting the optimal target material by analyzing the photon characteristics of various materials which was located in the head of medical linear accelerator. In this study, energy spectrum of 6, 15 MV photon beams were compared and analyzed for 13 target materials using MCNPX of Monte Carlo method. The mean energy for the 6 MV energy spectrum was 1.69 ~ 1.84 MeV and that for the 15 MV was 3.38 ~ 3.56 MeV, according to the target material. The flux for the 6 MV energy spectrum was $1.64{\times}10^{-5}{\sim}1.80{\times}10^{-5}{\sharp}/cm^2/e$ and that for the 15 MV was $1.76{\times}10^{-4}{\sim}1.85{\times}10^{-4}{\sharp}/cm^2/e$. The analysis shows that the average energy and flux increase with higher atomic number of the target material. Based on this study, it is possible to present the basic data about the physical characteristics of the photon, and it will be possible to select the target later considering economic, efficiency and physical aspect.

• Progress in Medical Physics
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.179-186
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• 2006

Purpose: Photon beam data of linear accelerators in Korea are collected, analyzed, and a simple method for checking and verifying the dose calculations in a TPS are suggested. Materials and Methods: Photon beam data such as output calibration condition, output factor, wedge factor, percent depth dose, beam profile, and beam quality were collected from 26 institutions in Korea. In order to verify the accuracy of dose calculation, ten sample planning tests were peformed. These Include square, elongated, and blocked fields, wedge fields, off-axis dose calculation, SSD variation. The planned data were compared to that of manual calculations. Results: The average and standard deviation of photon beam quality for 6, 10, and 15 MV were $0.576{\pm}0.005,\;0.632{\pm}0.004,\;and\;0.647{\pm}0.006$, respectively. The output factors of 6 MV photon beam measured at depth of dose maximum for $5{\times}5cm,\;15{\times}15cm,\;20{\times}20cm\;were\;0.944{\pm}0.006,\;1.031{\pm}0.006,\;and\;1.055{\pm}0.007$. For 10 MV photon beam, the values were $0.935{\pm}0.006,\;1.031{\pm}0.007,\;1.054{\pm}0.0005$. The collected data were not enough to calculate average, the output factors for 15MV photon beam with field size of $5{\times}5cm,\;15{\times}15cm,\;20{\times}20cm\;were\;0.941{\pm}0.008,\;1.032{\pm}0.004,\;1.049{\pm}0.014$. There was seven institutions $e{\times}ceeding$ tolerance when monitor unit values calculated from treatment planning system and manually were compared. The measured average MU values for the machines calibrated at SAD setup were 3 MU and 5 MU higher than the machines calibrated at SSD for 6 MV and 10 MV, respectively except the wedge case. When the wedges were inserted, the MU values to deliver 100 cGy to 5 cm depends on manufactures. When the same wedge angle was used, Siemens machine requires more MUs then Varian machine. Conclusion: In this study, photon beam data are collected and analyzed to provide a baseline value for chocking beam data and the accuracy of dose calculation for a treatment planning system.

• Journal of the Korean Magnetics Society
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.18-22
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• 2017

The purpose of this study was to present an improved method of dose modulation over the increase of build-up for existing 6 MV photon beam. Two neodymium permanent magnets with a strength of 0.5 T (Tesla) were applied with a magnetic field perpendicular to the photon beam. The effects of dose on build-up region with or without the magnetic field were measured according to the magnet-to-magnet distance (MMS) and the magnet-to-surface distance (MSD). For MMS = 6 cm and MSD = 2.5 cm, $D_{0mm}$, $D_{2mm}$, $D_{5mm}$, and $D_{10mm}$ showed improved doses of 6.8 %, 14.6 %, 6.9 %, and 2.1 %, respectively, as compared with 6 MV open beam. In this study, the device with low strength magnetic field can be applied directly to the outside of the human body when the target volume located close to the skin is delivered with radiation. It is expected that the method of build-up modulation using a low strength magnetic field will be feasible in the clinical applications.

• Progress in Medical Physics
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.55-62
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• 1999

In an effort to study the characteristics of x-rays utilized in radiation therapy, we calculated the energy distribution and the mean energy of x-rays generated from a tungsten target bombarded by 6, 10, and 15 MeV electron beams, using a Monte Carlo technique. The average photon energies calculated as a function of the beam radius lied in 1.4 ∼ 1.6, 2.1 ∼ 2.5 and 2.8 ∼ 3.3 MeV ranges for 4, 10, and 15 MV electron beams, respectively, which turned out to have no strong dependence on the radius. Using the energy distributions of 6,10, and 15 MV x-rays obtained for the target distance of 100 cm, percentage depth doses were determined using Monte Carlo calculations. For the case 10 MV, a comparison was made between our calculation and measurement performed by others. The calculated percentage depth dose appeared somewhat smaller than the measured one except in the surface region. We conclude that this is due to the fact that the beam hardening effect resulting from the flattening filter was not properly allowed for in our Monte Carlo calculations.

• Progress in Medical Physics
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.29-34
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• 1995

The wedge factor is defined as a ratio of the absorbed dose in a phantom at a depth of reference point on the central axis with the wedge in the place to the absorbed dose at the same point with the wedge removed. We attempted to show the wedge factors dependence on the field sizes. The wedge factors were measured at various field sizes on 6MV and 15MV x-ray of Varian Clinac 1800 and 5MV x-ray of Philips SL75/5. The single wedge factor measured for a reference field size(10cmx10cm) may not be valid for all field sizes. For the thick wedge, especially an autowedge on Philips SL75/5 for maximum field size width 30cm. the error can be significant(6.6％). Therefore, in the presence of a wedge filter in the beam, a field size dependent wedge factor may be necessary in the treatment dose calculations.

• The Journal of Korean Society for Radiation Therapy
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.65-73
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• 2017

Purpose: Machine Performance Check (MPC) is a self-checking software based on the Electronic Portal Imaging Device (EPID) to measure daily beam outputs without external installation. The purpose of this study is to verify the usefulness of MPC by comparing and correlating daily beam output of QA Beamchecker PLUS. Materials and Methods: Linear accelerator (Truebeam 2.5) was used to measure 10 energies which are composed of photon beams(6, 10, 15 MV and 6, 10 MV-FFF) and electron beams(6, 9, 12, 16 and 20 MeV). A total of 80 cycles of data was obtained by measuring beam output measurement before treatment over five months period. The Pearson correlation coefficient was used to evaluate the consistency of the beam output between the MPC and the QA Beamchecker PLUS. In this study, if the Pearson correlation coefficient is; (1) 0.8 or higher, the correlation is very strong (2) between 0.6 and 0.79, the correlation is strong (3) between 0.4 and 0.59, the correlation is moderate (4) between 0.2 and 0.39, the correlation is weak (5) lower than 0.2, the correlation is very weak. Results: Output variations observed between MPC and QA Beamchecker PLUS were within 2 % for photons and electrons. The beam outputs variations of MPC were $0.29{\pm}0.26%$ and $0.30{\pm}0.26%$ for photon and electron beams, respectively. QA Beamchecker PLUS beam outputs were $0.31{\pm}0.24%$ and $0.33{\pm}0.24%$ for photon and electron beams, respectively. The Pearson correlation coefficient between MPC and QA Beamchecker PLUS indicated that photon beams were very strong at 15 MV, and strong at 6 MV, 10 MV, 6 MV-FFF and 10 MV-FFF. For electron beams, the Pearson correlation coefficient were strong at 16 MeV and 20 MeV, moderate at 9 MeV and 12 MeV, and very weak at 6 MeV. Conclusion: MPC showed significantly strong correlation with QA Beamchecker PLUS when testing with photon beams and high-energy electron beams in the evaluation of daily beam output, but the correlation when testing with low-energy electron beams (6 MeV) appeared to be low. However, MPC and QA Beamchecker PLUS are considered to be suitable for checking daily beam output, as they performed within 2 % of beam output consistency during the observation. MPC which can perform faster than the conventional daily beam output measurement tool, is considered to be an effective method for users.

• Progress in Medical Physics
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.79-85
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• 2016

The objective of this study is to increase the accuracy of dose transmission in radiation therapy using two types of treatment tables, standard exact couch (Varian 21EX, Varian Medical Systems, Milpitas, CA) and 6D robotic couch (Novalis, BrainLAB A.G., Heimstetten, Germany)). We examined the dose attenuation based on the two types of treatment tables and studied the dose of attenuation using the phase (In/Out) for the standard exact couch. We measured the relative dose according to the incident angle of a penetrative photon beam under a treatment table. The incident angle of the photon beam was from $0^{\circ}$ to $360^{\circ}$ in the increments of $5^{\circ}$. The reference angle was set to $0^{\circ}$. Furthermore, the relative dose of the 6D robotic couch was measured using 6 MV and 15 MV, and that of the standard exact couch was measured at the sliding rail position (In-Out) using 6 MV and 10 MV. In the case of the standard exact couch, the measured relative dose was 16.53% (rails at the "In position," $175^{\circ}$, 6 MV), 12.42% (rails at the "In position," $175^{\circ}$, 10 MV), 13.13% (rails at the "Out position," $175^{\circ}$, 6 MV), and 9.96% (rails at the "Out position," $175^{\circ}$, 10 MV). In the case of the 6D robotic couch, the measured relative dose was 6.82% ($130^{\circ}$, 6 MV) and 4.92% ($130^{\circ}$, 15 MV). The photon energies were surveyed at the same incident angle. The dose attenuation for an energy of 10 MV was 4~5% lower than that for 6 MV. This indicated that the higher photon energy, lesser is the attenuation. The results of this study indicated that the attenuation rate for the 6D robotic couch was confirmed to be 1% larger than that for the standard exact couch at 6 MV and $180^{\circ}$. In the case of the standard exact couch, the dose attenuation was found to change rapidly in accordance with the phase ("In position" and "Out position") of the sliding rail.