Practical Application of a Portal Dosimetry Device for Daily Inspections in an Electron Accelerator Quality Assurance Program

Abstract

Daily inspections of the radiation output of accelerator radiation beams prior to patient treatment are a compulsory component of all international recommendations on quality assurance. In the classic version, such an inspection is performed using standard “wired” (connected by wires) dosimetric equipment, such as calibrated ionization chambers or detector matrices. However, in the case of testing of a large number of accelerators and lack of appropriate radiological equipment and personnel, morning inspections may affect the beginning time of the treatment process. To accelerate this procedure, the N.N. Blokhin Russian Cancer Research Center of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences developed and implemented a wireless technique of morning inspections using portal imaging devices for testing constancy of the absolute dose of photon radiation and assessing the accuracy of the multileaf collimator. The performance of the system for data transmission between the department server and the accelerator console, as well as the possibility of imaging, is checked simultaneously with the morning inspection.