Smartphone application for mechanical quality assurance of medical linear accelerators.
Mechanical quality assurance (QA) of medical linear accelerators consists of time-consuming and human-error-prone procedures. We developed a smartphone application system for mechanical QA. The system consists of two smartphones: one attached to a gantry for obtaining real-time information on the mechanical parameters of the medical linear accelerator, and another displaying real-time information via a Bluetooth connection with the former. Motion sensors embedded in the smartphone were used to measure gantry and collimator rotations. Images taken by the smartphone's high-resolution camera were processed to evaluate accuracies of jaw-positioning, crosshair centering and source-to-surface distance (SSD). The application was developed using Android software development kit and OpenCV library. The accuracy and precision of the system was validated against an optical rotation stage and digital calipers, prior to routine QA measurements of five medical linear accelerators. The system accuracy and precision in measuring angles and lengths were determined to be 0.05  ±  0.05° and 0.25  ±  0.14 mm, respectively. The mean absolute errors (MAEs) in QA measurements of gantry and collimator rotation were 0.05  ±  0.04° and 0.05  ±  0.04°, respectively. The MAE in QA measurements of light field was 0.39  ±  0.36 mm. The MAEs in QA measurements of crosshair centering and SSD were 0.40  ±  0.35 mm and 0.41  ±  0.32 mm, respectively. In conclusion, most routine mechanical QA procedures could be performed using the smartphone application system with improved precision and within a shorter time-frame, while eliminating potential human errors.
Interdisciplinary program in Radiation Applied Life Science, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea. Department of Radiation Oncology, Jeju National University Hospital, Jeju, Republic of Korea.
Hwiyoung
H
Kim
Hyunseok
H
Lee
Jong In
JI
Park
Chang Heon
CH
Choi
So-Yeon
SY
Park
Hee Jung
HJ
Kim
Young Suk
YS
Kim
Sung-Joon
SJ
Ye
D055595:Mechanical Phenomena; D010315:Particle Accelerators / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000592:standards*; D011786:Quality Control; D012399:Rotation; D000068997:Smartphone; D012984:Software