Improving patient care and accuracy of given doses in radiation therapy using in vivo dosimetry verification

Objective This work aims to verify and improve the dose given for cancer patients in radiation therapy by using diodes to enhance patient in vivo dosimetry on a routine basis. Some characteristics of two available semi-conductor diode dosimetry systems were evaluated. Methods The diodes had been calibrated to read the dose at Dmax below the surface. Correction factors of clinical relevance were quantified to convert the diode readings into patient dose. The diode was irradiated at various gantry angles （increments of 45~）, various Field Sizes and various Source to Surface Distances （SSDs）. Results The maximal response variation in the angular response with respect to an arbitrary angle of 0~ was 1.9%, and the minimum variation was 0.5%. The response of the diode with respect to various field siz- es showed the minimum and the maximum variations in the measured dose from the diode; the calculated doses were -1.6% （for 5 cm x 5 cm field size） and 6.6% （for 40 cm x 40 cm field size）. The diode exhibited a significant perturbation in the response, which decreased with increasing SSD. No discrepancies larger than 5% were detected between the expected dose and the measured dose. Conclusion The results indicate that the diodes exhibit excellent linearity, dose reproducibility and minimal anisotropy; that they can be used with confidence for patient dose verification. Furthermore, diodes render real time verification of the dose delivered to patients.

Evaluation of photon beam dose calculation accuracy of treatment planning systems using in vivo dosimetry

Objective The treatment planning system currently represents one of the basics of radiation therapy,because it is the only method to estimate patient dose delivery fast forward and accurately represent estimated tumor location of the tumor with the possibility of estimating densities in the tissue surrounding the tumor to overcome dose calculation defects but radial estimated the patient.Despite the flaws associated with the systems and calculates the dose of your programs in all programs currently existing in the world.Than necessary,to the existence of a review of the accuracy of accounts and how to confirm the radiation dose to the patient programs.Methods A total of 35 cancer patients were considered for this study,with 245 field measurements made with low-and high-energy diode detectors for brain and prostate cases.The treatments for all patients were planned using Eclipse Treatment Planning System version 13.6.Results Of the 105 field measurements made for the prostate cancer patients,16 included discrepancies outside the ±5% action level.Of the 145 measurements taken of the brain cases,there were four outside the ±5% action level.The results indicated a higher degree of accuracy.The study revealed that,for the prostate measurements,the higher discrepancy in the doses for the particular fields(exceeding the action level) may have been due to the isocenter being very close to the jaws and multi-leaf collimator of the linear accelerator machine.As a result,scatter from the jaws and the multi-leaf collimator could have contributed to the high dose delivered to the diode;hence,a probable higher discrepancy of the dose in more brain cases due highest quality of VMAT technique and fixation system.Conclusion A greater percentage of the observed discrepancies were well within the set tolerance level.However,it is recommended that the positioning of the diode on the patient's skin and the angular sensitivity of the diodes be reconsidered.It is also recommended that a more accurate calculation of expected diode values be performed,especially for fields that pass through the table.These efforts would achieve action levels of ±5%.