• Progress in Medical Physics
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.137-144
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• 2021

Purpose: This study aimed to investigate the accuracy of head scatter factor (S_c) by applying a developed multi-leaf collimator (MLC) scatter source model for an unflattened photon beam. Methods: Sets of S_c values were measured for various jaw-defined square and rectangular fields and MLC-defined square fields for developing dual-source model (DSM) and MLC scatter model. A 6 MV unflattened photon beam has been used. Measurements were performed using a 0.125 cm³ cylindrical ionization chamber and a mini phantom. Then, the parameters of both models have been optimized, and S_c has been calculated. The DSM and MLC scatter models have been verified by comparing the calculated values to the three S_c set measurement values of the jaw-defined field and the two S_c set measurement values of MLC-defined fields used in the existing modeling, respectively. Results: For jaw-defined fields, the calculated S_c using the DSM was consistent with the measured S_c value. This demonstrates that the DSM was properly optimized and modeled for the measured values. For the MLC-defined fields, the accuracy between the calculated and measured S_c values with the addition of the MLC scatter source appeared to be high, but the only use of the DSM resulted in a significantly bigger differences. Conclusions: Both the DSM and MLC models could also be applied to an unflattened beam. When considering scattered radiation from the MLC by adding an MLC scatter source model, it showed a higher degree of agreement with the actual measured S_c value than when using only DSM in the same way as in previous studies.

• Progress in Medical Physics
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.288-297
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• 2014

Dynamic conformal arc therapy (DCAT) and flattening-filter-free (FFF) beams are commonly adopted for efficient conformal dose delivery in stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT). Off-axis geometry (OAG) may be necessary to obtain full gantry rotation without collision, which has been shown to be beneficial for peripheral targets using flattened beams. In this study dose distributions in OAG using FFF were evaluated and the effect of mechanical rotation induced uncertainty was investigated. For the lateral target, OAG evaluation, sphere targets (2, 4, and 6 cm diameter) were placed at three locations (central axis, 3 cm off-axis, and 6 cm off-axis) in a representative patient CT set. For each target, DCAT plans under the same objective were obtained for 6X, 6FFF, 10X, and 10FFF. The parameters used to evaluate the quality of the plans were homogeneity index (HI), conformality indices (CI), and beam on time (BOT). Next, the mechanical rotation induced uncertainty was evaluated using five SBRT patient plans that were randomly selected from a group of patients with laterally located tumors. For each of the five cases, a plan was generated using OAG and CAG with the same prescription and coverage. Each was replanned to account for one degree collimator/couch rotation errors during delivery. Prescription isodose coverage, CI, and lung dose were evaluated. HI and CI values for the lateral target, OAG evaluation were similar for flattened and unflattened beams; however, 6FFF provided slightly better values than 10FFF in OAG. For all plans the HI and CI were acceptable with the maximum difference between flattened and unflattend beams being 0.1. FFF beams showed better conformality than flattened beams for low doses and small targets. Variation due to rotational error for isodose coverage, CI, and lung dose was generally smaller for CAG compared to OAG, with some of these comparisons reaching statistical significance. However, the variations in dose distributions for either treatment technique were small and may not be clinically significant. FFF beams showed acceptable dose distributions in OAG. Although 10FFF provides more dramatic BOT reduction, it generally provides less favorable dosimetric indices compared to 6FFF in OAG. Mechanical uncertainty in collimator and couch rotation had an increased effect for OAG compared to CAG; however, the variations in dose distributions for either treatment technique were minimal.