Quality control aspects of the Philips multileaf collimator.
OBJECTIVE
Linear accelerators equipped with multileaf collimators (MLCs) are becoming more common and are widely available from most commercial manufacturers. There is a need to ensure they retain their commissioning specification using a preventative maintenance and quality control (QC) programme. This paper considers the design criteria of the Philips MLC which are important to the production of a comprehensive quality control programme.


METHODS
The specific QC problems related to MLCs are identified as the positional accuracy of the leaves and their relationship to the back-up collimators, leakage considerations, the relationship of X-ray to light field and the influence of gravity on the positioning and leakage characteristics of the leaves. These problems are considered in relation to the general design considerations of the MLC, and methods of performing routine quality control checks are discussed.


CONCLUSIONS
The introduction of MLCs into clinical use results in new QC procedures being developed but it can be concluded that for the Philips MLC only an extra 30 min of QC time is needed per month and that its use has added little to the general down-time of this department.
Hounsell
A R
AR
North Western Medical Physics, Christie Hospital NHS Trust, Manchester, UK.
Jordan
T J
TJ
D002138:Calibration; D010315:Particle Accelerators / Q000295:instrumentation*; D011786:Quality Control; D013679:Technology, Radiologic