Premium
Commissioning a passive‐scattering proton therapy nozzle for accurate SOBP delivery
Author(s) -
Engelsman M.,
Lu H.M.,
Herrup D.,
Bussiere M.,
Kooy H. M.
Publication year - 2009
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 - 10.1118/1.3121489
Subject(s) - sobp , proton therapy , medical physics , nozzle , proton , nuclear physics , medicine , physics , aerospace engineering , engineering
Proton radiotherapy centers that currently use passively scattered proton beams do field specific calibrations for a non‐negligible fraction of treatment fields, which is time and resource consuming. Our improved understanding of the passive scattering mode of the IBA universal nozzle, especially of the current modulation function, allowed us to re‐commission our treatment control system for accurate delivery of SOBPs of any range and modulation, and to predict the output for each of these fields. We moved away from individual field calibrations to a state where continued quality assurance of SOBP field delivery is ensured by limited system‐wide measurements that only require one hour per week. This manuscript reports on a protocol for generation of desired SOBPs and prediction of dose output.