title: Stability of a mobile electron linear accelerator system for intraoperative radiation therapy.
abstract: The flexibility of mobile electron accelerators, which are designed to be transported to an operating room and plugged into a normal 3-phase outlet, make them ideal for use in intraoperative radiation therapy. However, their transportability may cause trepidation among potential users, who may question the stability of such an accelerator over a period of use. In order to address this issue, we have studied the short-term stability of the Mobetron system over 20 daily quality assurance trials. Variations in output generally varied within +/-2% for the four energies produced by the unit (4, 6, 9, and 12 MeV) and changes in energy produced an equivalent shift of less than 1 mm on the depth-dose curve. Hours of inactivity, with the Mobetron powered on for use either throughout the day or overnight, led to variations in output of about 1%. Finally, we have tested the long-term stability of the absolute dose output of the Mobetron, which showed a change of about 1% per year.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiation Physics, Division of Radiation Oncology, The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas 77030, USA. abeddar@mdanderson.org
authors.forename: A Sam
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Beddar
mesh_terms: D004583:Electrons / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D019544:Equipment Failure Analysis / Q000379:methods*; D007430:Intraoperative Care / Q000295:instrumentation*; D010315:Particle Accelerators / Q000295:instrumentation*; D011785:Quality Assurance, Health Care / Q000379:methods*; D011874:Radiometry; D016634:Radiosurgery / Q000295:instrumentation*; D011879:Radiotherapy Dosage; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity