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A personal‐computer‐based method to obtain “star‐shots” of mechanical and optical isocenters for gantry rotation of linear accelerators
Author(s) -
Woo M. K.
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
medical physics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.473
H-Index - 180
eISSN - 2473-4209
pISSN - 0094-2405
DOI - 10.1118/1.1521937
Subject(s) - linear particle accelerator , rotation (mathematics) , computer science , personal computer , optics , physics , computer vision , computer graphics (images) , beam (structure) , computer hardware
This work describes a method to obtain “star‐shots” of the mechanical and optical isocenters of linear accelerators, similar to the star‐shots of radiation isocenters normally obtained using films. In this method a digital camera is connected to a personal computer so that multiply exposed images can be taken at a fixed camera position. A mechanical pointer or a wire aligned along the optical axis can then be imaged by the camera. Multiple exposures at varying gantry angles are then superimposed on a digital image which can be analyzed by the computer to give a high‐resolution star‐shot. The method provides a convenient way for a linear accelerator quality assurance procedure.