Program Information
Enhanced Dynamic Wedge Output Factors for Varian 2300CD and the Case for a Reference Database
C Njeh*, California Cancer Center, Fresno, CA
Presentations
SU-E-T-362 (Sunday, July 12, 2015) 3:00 PM - 6:00 PM Room: Exhibit Hall
Purpose:
Dose inhomogeneity in treatment planning can be compensated using physical wedges. Enhanced dynamic wedges (EDW) were introduced by Varian to overcome some of the short comings of physical wedges. The objectives of this study were to measure EDW output factors for 6 MV and 20 MV photon energies for a Varian 2300CD. Secondly to review the literature in terms of published enhanced dynamic wedge output factors (EDWOF) for different Varian models and thereby adding credence to the case of the validity of reference databases
Methods:
The enhanced dynamic wedge output factors were measured for the Varian 2300CD for both 6 MV and 20 MV photon energies. Twelve papers with published EDWOF for different Varian Linac models were found in the literature.
Results:
The EDWOF for 6 MV varied from 0.980 for a 5x5 cm 10 degree wedge to 0.424 for 20x20 cm 60 degree wedge. Similarly for 20 MV, the EDWOF varied from 0.986 for 5x5 cm 10 degree wedge to 0.529 for 20x20 cm 60 degree wedge. EDWOF are highly dependent on field size. Comparing our results with the published mean, we found an excellent agreement for 6 MV EDWOF with the percentage differences ranging from 0.01% to 0.57% with a mean of 0.03%. The coefficient of variation of published EDWOF ranged from 0.17% to 0.85% and 0.1% to 0.9% for the for 6 MV and 18MV photon energies respectively. This paper provides the first published EDWOF for 20 MV photon energy. In addition, we have provided the first compendium of EDWOFs for different Varian linac models.
Conclusion:
The consistency of EDWOF across models and institution provide further support that, a standard data set of basic photon and electron dosimetry could be established, as a guide for future commissioning, beam modeling and quality assurance purposes
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