Open AccessCommissioning experience and quality assurance of helical tomotherapy machines
Author(s) -
Ananya Sen,
M West
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
journal of medical physics/journal of medical physics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.292
H-Index - 24
eISSN - 1998-3913
pISSN - 0971-6203
DOI - 10.4103/0971-6203.56078
Subject(s) - tomotherapy , linear particle accelerator , multileaf collimator , isocenter , quality assurance , collimator , imaging phantom , collimated light , beam (structure) , nuclear medicine , image quality , image guided radiation therapy , medical physics , optics , physics , computer science , medicine , medical imaging , radiation therapy , radiology , artificial intelligence , laser , external quality assessment , pathology , image (mathematics)
A helical tomotherapy machine combines a straight 6 MV linear accelerator mounted on a ring gantry with CT technology for image-guided intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) treatment. A fan beam created by the collimator and jaws produces a maximum of 40 x 5 cm(2) field size at the isocenter. The gantry and hence the fan beam rotates at a constant speed while the couch moves linearly into the gantry bore, thus producing a helical delivery. The beam is modulated by a 64-leaf binary multileaf collimator (MLC), which enables IMRT treatment. The linac can be operated at a lower voltage (3.5 MV) and dose rate to produce megavoltage CT images, which are used for image-guided patient setup. We have installed two such units since 2004 and treated more than 2000 patients. The machine comes "precommissioned" from the manufacturer, and the beam characteristics and IMRT plans on phantom are measured and compared with manufacturer's data after acceptance tests are performed on site. Our experience with commissioning the machines and periodic quality assurance with tolerance limits for optimal performance are described.