title: Stability of electron-beam energy monitor for quality assurance of the electron-beam energy from radiotherapy accelerators.
abstract: Information on electron energy is important in planning radiation therapy using electrons. The Geske 3405 electron beam energy monitor (Geske monitor, PTW Nuclear Associates, Carle Place, NY, USA) is a device containing nine ionization chambers for checking the energy of the electron beams produced by radiotherapy accelerators. We wondered whether this might increase the likelihood of ionization chamber trouble. In spite of the importance of the stability of such a quality assurance (QA) device, there are no reports on the stability of values measured with a Geske monitor. The purpose of this paper was therefore to describe the stability of a Geske monitor. It was found that the largest coefficient of variation (CV) of the Geske monitor measurements was approximately 0.96% over a 21-week period. In conclusion, the stability of Geske monitor measurements of the energy of electron beams from a linear accelerator was excellent.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiological Technology, College of Medical Sciences, Tohoku University, Sendai 980-8575, Japan. chida@rad.cms.tohoku.ac.jp
authors.forename: Koichi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Chida
authors.forename: Haruo
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Saito
authors.forename: Yoshihiro
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Takai
authors.forename: Masayuki
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zuguchi
authors.forename: Masatoshi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mitsuya
authors.forename: Hideharu
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Sakakida
authors.forename: Masahiro
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kohzuki
authors.forename: Shogo
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Yamada
mesh_terms: D004583:Electrons; D006801:Humans; D010315:Particle Accelerators; D011785:Quality Assurance, Health Care; D011834:Radiation Monitoring / Q000295:instrumentation*; D011882:Radiotherapy, High-Energy / Q000295:instrumentation*