title: Off-axis primary-dose measurements using a mini-phantom.
abstract: The characterization of the incident photon beam is usually divided into its dependence on collimator setting (head-scatter factor) and off-axis position (primary off-axis ratio). These parameters are normally measured "in air" with a build-up cap thick enough to generate full dose build-up at the depth of dose maximum. In order to prevent any influence from contaminating electrons, it has been recommended that head-scatter measurements are carried out using a mini-phantom rather than a conventional build-up cap. Due to the volume of the mini-phantom, the effects from attenuation and scatter are not negligible. In relative head-scatter measurements these effects cancel and the head scatter is thus a good representation of the variation of the incident photon beam with collimator setting. However, in off-axis measurements, attenuation and scatter conditions vary due to beam softening and do not cancel in the calculation of the primary off-axis ratio. The purpose of the present work was to estimate the effects from attenuation and phantom scatter in order to determine their influence on primary off-axis ratio measurements. We have characterized the off-axis beam-softening effect by means of narrow-beam transmission measurements to obtain the effective attenuation coefficient as a function of off-axis position. We then used a semi-analytical expression for the phantom-scatter calculation that depends solely on this attenuation coefficient. The derived formalism for relative "in air" measurements using a mini-phantom is clear and consistent, which enables the user to separately calculate the effects from scatter and attenuation. For the investigated beam qualities, 6 and 18 MV, our results indicate that the effects from attenuation and scatter in the mini-phantom nearly cancel (the combined effect is less than 1%) within 12.5 cm from the central beam axis. Thus, no correction is needed when the primary off-axis ratio is measured with a mini-phantom.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiation Physics, Lund University Hospital, Sweden.
authors.forename: S A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Johnsson
authors.forename: C P
authors.initials: CP
authors.lastname: Ceberg
mesh_terms: D005069:Evaluation Studies as Topic; D006801:Humans; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D019047:Phantoms, Imaging; D017785:Photons / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D011867:Radioisotope Teletherapy / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011880:Radiotherapy Planning, Computer-Assisted; D011882:Radiotherapy, High-Energy / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012542:Scattering, Radiation; D013679:Technology, Radiologic