Gating characteristics of an Elekta radiotherapy treatment unit measured with three types of detector

Philip M. Evans, J. Richard N. Symonds-Tayler, Ruth Colgan, Geoffrey D. Hugo, Nicky Letts, Carlos Sandin

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

15 Scopus citations

Abstract

The characteristics of an Elekta Precise treatment machine with a gating interface were investigated. Three detectors were used: a Farmer ionization chamber, a MatriXX ionization chamber array and an in-house, single pulse-measurement ionization chamber (IVC). Measurements were made of dosimetric accuracy, flatness and symmetry characteristics and duty cycle for a range of beam-on times and gating periods. Results were compared with a standard ungated delivery as a reference. For all beam-on times, down to 0.5 s, dosimetric differences were below 1% and flatness and symmetry parameter variations were below 1.5%. For the shorter beam-on times the in-house detector deviated from the other two detectors, suggesting that this device should be used in conjunction with other detectors for absolute dosimetry purposes. However, it was found to be useful for studying gated beam characteristics pulse by pulse.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)N201-N210
JournalPhysics in medicine and biology
Volume55
Issue number8
DOIs
StatePublished - 2010

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Gating characteristics of an Elekta radiotherapy treatment unit measured with three types of detector'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this