A fast analytic dose calculation method for arc treatments for kilovoltage small animal irradiators.

TitleA fast analytic dose calculation method for arc treatments for kilovoltage small animal irradiators.
Publication TypeJournal Article
Year of Publication2013
AuthorsMarco-Rius, I, Wack, L, Tsiamas, P, Tryggestad, E, Berbeco, R, Hesser, J, Zygmanski, P
JournalPhysica medica : PM : an international journal devoted to the applications of physics to medicine and biology : official journal of the Italian Association of Biomedical Physics (AIFB)
Volume29
Pagination426–35
Date Publishedsep
ISSN1724-191X
Abstract

Arc treatments require calculation of dose for collections of discrete gantry angles. The sampling of angles must balance between short computation time of small angle sets and the better calculation reliability of large sets. In this paper, an analytical formula is presented that allows calculation of dose delivered during continuous rotation of the gantry. The formula holds valid for continuous short arcs of up to about 30deg and is derived by integrating a dose formula over gantry angles within a small angle approximation. Doses for longer arcs may be obtained in terms of doses for shorter arcs. The formula is derived with an empirical beam model in water and extended to inhomogeneous media. It is validated with experimental data obtained by applying arc treatment using kV small animal irradiator to a phantom of solid water and lung-equivalent material. The results are a promising step towards efficient 3D dose calculation and inverse planning purposes. In principle, this method also applies to VMAT dose calculation and optimization but requires extensions.

URLhttp://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23490038
DOI10.1016/j.ejmp.2013.02.003
Citation Key Marco-Rius2013
PubMed ID23490038