Program Information
Benchmarking a Monte Carlo Model for Patient Plane Leakage Calculations of Low Energy 6MV Unique Linacs
M Constantin*, D Sawkey , S Johnsen , H Hsu , Varian Medical Systems, Palo Alto, CA
Presentations
SU-E-T-53 Sunday 3:00PM - 6:00PM Room: Exhibit HallPurpose: To validate the physics parameters of a Monte Carlo model for patient plane leakage calculations on the 6MV Unique linac by comparing the simulations against IEC patient plane leakage measurements. The benchmarked model can further be used for shielding design optimization, to predict leakage in the proximity of intended treatment fields, reduce the system weight and cost, and improve components reliability.
Methods: The treatment head geometry of the Unique linac was simulated in Geant4 (v9.4.p02 with “Opt3†standard electromagnetic physics list) based on CAD drawings of all collimation and shielding components projected from the target to the area within 2m from isocenter. A 4x4m2 scorer was inserted 1m from the target in the patient plane and multiple phase space files were recorded by performing a 40-node computing cluster simulation on the EC2 cloud. The photon energy fluence was calculated relative to the value at isocenter for a 10x10cm2 field using 10x10mm2 bins. Tungsten blocks were parked accordingly to represent MLC120. The secondary particle contamination to patient plane was eliminated by “killing†those particles prior to the primary collimator entrance using a “kill-planeâ€, which represented the upper head shielding components not being modeled. Both IEC patient-plane leakage and X/Y-jaws transmission were simulated.
Results: The contribution of photons to energy fluence was 0.064% on average, in excellent agreement with the experimental data available at 0.5, 1.0, and 1.5m from isocenter, characterized by an average leakage of 0.045% and a maximum leakage of 0.085%. X- and Y-jaws transmissions of 0.43% and 0.44% were found in good agreement with measurements of 0.48% and 0.43%, respectively.
Conclusion: A Geant4 model based on energy fluence calculations for the 6MV Unique linac was created and validated using IEC patient plane leakage measurements. The “kill-plane†has effectively eliminated electron contamination to patient plane in these simulations.
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