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Commissioning, evaluation, quality assurance and clinical application of a virtual micro MLC technique
Author(s) -
Woo M.,
Charland P.,
Kim B.,
Nico A.
Publication year - 2003
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 - 10.1118/1.1534110
Subject(s) - quality assurance , electromagnetic shielding , computer science , project commissioning , medical physics , multileaf collimator , dosimetry , process (computing) , reliability engineering , quality (philosophy) , radiation treatment planning , engineering , radiation therapy , nuclear medicine , medicine , electrical engineering , physics , operations management , radiology , external quality assessment , publishing , quantum mechanics , political science , law , operating system
Multileaf collimators (MLCs) are a valuable tool in modern radiation therapy, offering flexible and convenient field shaping. One disadvantage, however, is the undulation of the dose distribution at the edge shaped by the leaves due to the finite leaf width. An attempt to reduce the effect of this undulation is the objective of the commercial linear accelerator package HD270, which incorporates three‐dimensional couch translation together with leaf adjustment to emulate finer leaf widths. In this paper we report on the commissioning and evaluation of this feature, together with the development of a process for quality assurance, as well as description of a clinical application of this technique. It is concluded that this technique could be applied reliably to situations currently utilizing MLC for shielding, with little added cost in treatment time, provided that a comprehensive quality assurance program is in place to monitor the performance of this complicated procedure.