Interinstitutional experience in verification of external photon dose calculations

Under the auspices of NCI contracts, four institutions have collaborated to assess the accuracy of the pixel-based dose calculation methods they employ for external photon treatment planning. The approach relied on comparing calculations using each group's algorithm with measurements in phantom...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inInternational journal of radiation oncology, biology, physics Vol. 21; no. 1; pp. 37 - 58
Main Authors Masterson, Mary Ellen, Barest, Glenn, Chui, Chen-Shou, Doppke, Karen P., Epperson, Robert D., Harms, William B., Krippner, Kenneth E., Mohan, Radhe, Slessinger, Eric D., Sontag, Marc R., Urie, Marcia M., Wallace, Robert E., Wong, John W.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published United States Elsevier Inc 15.05.1991
Subjects
655003 - Medical Physics- Dosimetry
Algorithm accuracy
ALGORITHMS
BEAMS
CALCULATION METHODS
DISEASES
Dose calculations
DOSEMETERS
DOSES
External photon treatment planning
Humans
HYDROGEN COMPOUNDS
IONIZATION CHAMBERS
LUMINESCENT DOSEMETERS
MATHEMATICAL LOGIC
MEASURING INSTRUMENTS
MEDICINE
MOCKUP
NEOPLASMS
Neoplasms - radiotherapy
NUCLEAR MEDICINE
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
PHANTOMS
PHOTON BEAMS
PLANNING
RADIATION DETECTORS
RADIATION DOSES
RADIATION PROTECTION AND DOSIMETRY
RADIOLOGY
RADIOTHERAPY
Radiotherapy Dosage
Radiotherapy Planning, Computer-Assisted
Scattering, Radiation
STRUCTURAL MODELS
THERAPY
THERMOLUMINESCENT DOSEMETERS
WATER
External photon treatment planning
Algorithm accuracy
Dose calculations
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Summary:Under the auspices of NCI contracts, four institutions have collaborated to assess the accuracy of the pixel-based dose calculation methods they employ for external photon treatment planning. The approach relied on comparing calculations using each group's algorithm with measurements in phantoms of increasing complexity. The first set of measurements consisted of ionization chamber measurements in water phantoms in normally incident square fields, an elongated field, a wedged field, a blocked field, and an obliquely incident beam. The second group of measurements was carried out using thermoluminescent dosimeters in phantoms designed to investigate the effects of surface curvature, high density heterogeneities, and low density heterogeneities. The final study tested the entire treatment planning system, including CT data conversion, in an anthropomorphic phantom. Overall, good agreement between calculation and measurements was found for all algorithms. Regions in which discrepancies were observed are pointed out, areas for algorithm improvement are identified and the clinical import of algorithm accuracy is discussed.
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ISSN:0360-3016
1879-355X
DOI:10.1016/0360-3016(91)90166-2