title: The use of a commercial QA device for daily output check of a helical tomotherapy unit.
abstract: Helical tomotherapy radiation therapy units, due to their particular design and differences from a traditional linear accelerator, require different procedures by which to perform routine quality assurance (QA). One of the principal QA tasks that should be performed daily on any radiation therapy equipment is the output constancy check. The daily output check on a Hi-Art TomoTherapy unit is commonly performed utilizing ionization chambers placed inside a solid water phantom. This provides a good check of output at one point, but does not give any information on either energy or symmetry of the beam, unless more than one point is measured. This also has the added disadvantage that it has to be done by the physics staff. To address these issues, and to simplify the process, such that it can be performed by radiation therapists, we investigated the use of a commercially available daily QA device to perform this task. The use of this device simplifies the task of daily output constancy checks and eliminates the need for continued physics involvement. This device can also be used to monitor the constancy of beam energy and cone profile and can potentially be used to detect gross errors in the couch movement or laser alignment.
authors.affiliation: Department of Therapeutic Radiology-Radiation Oncology, University of Minnesota, Mayo Mail Code 494 420 Delaware Street S.E., Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455, USA. alaei001@umn.edu
authors.forename: Parham
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Alaei
authors.forename: Susanta K
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Hui
authors.forename: Patrick D
authors.initials: PD
authors.lastname: Higgins
authors.forename: Bruce J
authors.initials: BJ
authors.lastname: Gerbi
mesh_terms: D002138:Calibration; D004867:Equipment Design; D007834:Lasers; D010315:Particle Accelerators; D019047:Phantoms, Imaging; D011137:Polystyrenes / Q000737:chemistry; D011786:Quality Control; D011874:Radiometry; D011879:Radiotherapy Dosage; D011880:Radiotherapy Planning, Computer-Assisted; D050397:Radiotherapy, Intensity-Modulated / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards; D013997:Time Factors
chemical_list: D011137:Polystyrenes