Program Information
A Technique to Determine the Gantry Laser and the Proton Pencil Beam Coincidence Using Computer Radiography Detector for Routine Quality Checks
A Anand*, J Kerns, N Sahoo, X Zhu, M Gillin, MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX
TU-A-BRB-8 Tuesday 8:00:00 AM - 9:55:00 AM Room: Ballroom BPurpose:
A computed radiography (CR) detector with photostimulable phosphors can detect both direct and indirect ionization radiation, and is even sensitive to photons in the visible range. The purpose of this work is to develop and validate a technique using CR to check both proton radiation versus localization laser coincidence and spot positioning accuracy for magnetically scanned proton pencil beam spots (PPBS).
Methods:
CR plate is removed from its cassette and set up perpendicular to the incident beam and exposed to an array of PPBS irradiated at predefined coordinates. Upon exposure of the particle radiation, the CR detector is then exposed to the gantry's laser systems. The plate is then put through a digital scanner which then reads the photo stimulated luminescence and converts the signal into a digital image pixel map. MATLAB®-based analysis software and ImageJ® image processing tools were used to compute the dose gradient from the laser bleaching of the proton exposure of the detector and for quantification of the results of this QA check procedure. The technique further allows quantitative determination of both spot positions, and the relationship between X ray system used for image guided patient setup and the PPBS delivery.
Results:
Both the coincidence between laser representing the gantry isocenter and center of PPBS along the central axis and spot positions can be checked within 1mm accuracy with the CR detector.
Conclusions:
We have demonstrated that our technique allows determining the coincidence between the laser and radiation beam. The technique described here is found to be suitable for periodic QA checks of relative positions of the spot center relative to the gantry isocenter and beam central axis. Improvements of this technique by considering the effect of detector's quantum yield and modulation transfer function on the data remain subject of further study.
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