Program Information
Automated Quality Assurance for XML Controlled Linacs
G Valdes*, O Morin , J Pouliot , C Chuang , UC San Francisco, San Francisco, CA
Presentations
SU-E-T-48 Sunday 3:00PM - 6:00PM Room: Exhibit HallPurpose: To automate routine imaging QA procedures so that complying with TG 142 and TG 179 can be efficient and reliable.
Methods: Two QA tests for a True Beam Linac were automatized. A Winston Lutz test as described by Lutz et al¹ using the Winston Lutz test kit from BrainLab, Germany and a CBCT Image Quality test as described in TG 179 using the EMMA phantom, Siemens Medical Physics, Germany were performed in our True Beam. For each QA procedure tested, a 3 step paradigm was used. First, the data was automatically acquired using True Beam Developer Mode and XML scripting. Second, the data acquired in the first step was automatically processed using in-home grown Matlab GUIs. Third, Machine Learning algorithms were used to automatically classify the processed data and reports generated.
Results: The Winston Luzt test could be performed by an experienced medical physicist in 29.0 ± 8.0 min. The same test, if automated using our paradigm, could be performed in 3.0 ± 0.1 min. In the same lieu, time could be substantially saved for image quality tests. In this case, the amount of time saved will depend on the phantoms used and the initial localization method. Additionally, machine learning algorithms could automatically identify the roots of the problems if any and possibly help reduce machine down time.
Conclusion: Modern linear accelerators are equipped with advanced 2D and 3D imaging that are used for patient alignment substantially improving IGRT protocols. However, this extra complexity exponentially increases the number of QA tests needed. Using the new paradigm described above, not only bare minimum but best practice QA programs could be implemented with the same manpower.
Funding Support, Disclosures, and Conflict of Interest: This work is supported by Varian, Palo Alto, California
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