MLC leaf width impact on the clinical dose distribution: a Monte Carlo approach.
OBJECTIVE
The influence of the multileaf collimator (MLC) leaf width on the dose distribution in patients treated with conformal radiotherapy and intensity-modulated radiotherapy has been analyzed. This study was based on the Monte Carlo simulation with the beams generated by a linac with the double-focused MLC.


METHODS
The transmission through the leaves and the exact shape of the penumbra regions are difficult to model by treatment planning system algorithms. An accurate assessment of the dose variations due to the leaf width change can be achieved by means of Monte Carlo simulation. The BEAM/EGS4 code was used at the Hospital of the Virgen Macarena to model a Siemens PRIMUS linac, featuring an MLC with a leaf width projecting 1 cm at the isocenter. Based on this real model, a virtual head was designed while allowing for a variation of the leaf width projection. Both the real linac and the virtual linac, with leaves projecting 0.5 cm, were used to obtain the dose distributions for several treatments. A few disease sites, including the prostate, head and neck, and endometrium, were selected for the design of the conformal and intensity-modulated radiotherapy treatments with a forward planning algorithm sensitive to the different shapes of the volumes of interest. Isodose curves, differential matrix, gamma function, and the dose-volume histograms (DVHs) corresponding to both MLC models were obtained for all cases. The tumor control probability and the normal tissue complication probability were derived for those cases studied featuring the greatest differences between results for both MLCs.


RESULTS
The impact on the DVHs of changing leaf width projections at the isocenter from 1.0 cm to 0.5 cm was low. Radiobiologic models showed slightly better tumor control probability/normal tissue complication probability values using the virtual MLC with a leaf width projecting 0.5 cm at isocenter in those cases presenting greater differences in the DVHs.


CONCLUSIONS
The impact on the clinical dose distribution due to the MLC leaf width change is low based on the design and conditions used in this study.
Leal
Antonio
A
Servicio de Radiofísica, Hospital Universitario Virgen Macarena, Seville, Spain. alplaza@us.es
Sánchez-Doblado
Francisco
F
Arráns
Rafael
R
Capote
Roberto
R
Lagares
Juan Ignacio
JI
Pavón
Ester Carrasco
EC
Roselló
Joan
J
D000008:Abdominal Neoplasms / Q000532:radiotherapy; D016889:Endometrial Neoplasms / Q000532:radiotherapy; D004867:Equipment Design; D005260:Female; D006258:Head and Neck Neoplasms / Q000532:radiotherapy; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008954:Models, Biological; D009010:Monte Carlo Method; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000532:radiotherapy*; D019047:Phantoms, Imaging; D011471:Prostatic Neoplasms / Q000532:radiotherapy; D011880:Radiotherapy Planning, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods; D020266:Radiotherapy, Conformal / Q000295:instrumentation*