Over 20 years of R&D to develop RadCalc EPID
"EPID‐based in-vivo dosimetry using Dosimetry Check™: Overview and clinical experience in a 5‐yr study including breast, lung, prostate, and head and neck cancer patients"
Authors
William H. Nailon | Daniel Welsh | Kim McDonald | Donna Burns | Julie Forsyth | Gillian Cooke1| Francisco Cutanda | Linda J. Carruthers | Duncan B. McLaren | Josep Puxeu Vaqué | Terence Kehoe | Sankar Andiappa
Journal: Journal of Applied Clinical Medical Physics
First published: 07.12.2018
Abstract
Independent verification of the dose delivered by complex radiotherapy can be performed by electronic portal imaging device (EPID) dosimetry. This paper presents 5‐yr EPID in vivo dosimetry (IVD) data obtained using the Dosimetry Check (DC) software on a large cohort including breast, lung, prostate, and head and neck (H&N) cancer patients.
The difference between in vivo dose measurements obtained by DC and point doses calculated by the Eclipse treatment planning system was obtained on 3795 radiotherapy patients treated with volumetric modulated arc therapy (VMAT) (n = 842) and three‐dimensional conformal radiotherapy (3DCRT) (n = 2953) at 6, 10, and 15 MV. In cases where the dose difference exceeded ±10% further inspection and additional phantom measurements were performed.
The mean and standard deviation ðl rÞ of the percentage difference in dose obtained by DC and calculated by Eclipse in VMAT was: 0:19 3:89% in brain, 1:54 4:87% in H&N, and 1:23 4:61% in prostate cancer. In 3DCRT, this was 1:79 3:51% in brain, 2:95 5:67% in breast, 1:43 4:38% in bladder, 1:66 4:77% in H&N, 2.60 ± 5.35% in lung and 3:62 4:00% in prostate cancer. A total of 153 plans exceeded the ±10% alert criteria, which included: 88 breast plans accounting for 7.9% of all breast treatments; 28 H&N plans accounting for 4.4% of all H&N treatments; and 12 prostate plans accounting for 3.5% of all prostate treatments. All deviations were found to be as a result of patient‐related anatomical deviations and not from procedural errors.
This preliminary data shows that EPID‐based IVD with DC may not only be useful in detecting errors but has the potential to be used to establish site‐ specific dose action levels. The approach is straightforward and has been implemented as a radiographer‐led service with no disruption to the patient and no impact on treatment time.
Here you can find the paper in the Journal of Applied Clinical Medical Physics: DOI