[Development of a Phantom and Analysis Program for Assessment of Positional Accuracy of Image-guided Radiation Therapy].

PURPOSE: We created a phantom and analysis program for the assessment of IGRT positional accuracy. We verified the accuracy of analysis and the practicality of this evaluation method at several facilities. METHOD: End-to-end test was performed using an in-house phantom, and EPID images were acquired after displacement by an arbitrary amount using a micrometer, with after image registration as the reference. The difference between the center of the target and the irradiated field was calculated using our in-house analysis program and commercial software. The end-to-end test was conducted at three facilities, and the IGRT positional accuracy evaluation was verified. RESULT: The maximum difference between the displacement of the target determined from the EPID image and the arbitrary amount of micrometer displacement was 0.24 mm for the in-house analysis program and 0.30 mm for the commercial software. The maximum difference between the center of the target and the irradiation field on EPID images acquired at the three facilities was 0.97 mm. CONCLUSION: The proposed evaluation method using our in-house phantom and analysis program can be used for the assessment of IGRT positional accuracy.

[Dosimetric perturbation due to scattered rays released by a gold marker used for tumor tracking in external radiotherapy].

Image-guided radiation therapy using a gold marker-based tumor tracking technique provides precise patient setup and monitoring. However, the marker consists of high-Z material, and the resulting scattered rays tend to have adverse effects on the dose distribution of radiotherapy. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the dosimetric perturbation due to the use of a gold marker for radiotherapy in the lungs. The relative dose distributions were compared with film measurement, Monte Carlo simulation, and XiO calculation with the multi grid superposition algorithm using two types of virtual lung phantoms, which were composed of tough water phantoms, tough lung phantoms, cork boards, and a 2.0-mm-diameter gold ball. No dose increase and decrease in the vicinity of the gold ball was seen in the XiO calculations, although it was seen in the film measurements and the Monte Carlo simulation. The dose perturbation due to a gold marker cannot be evaluated using XiO calculation with the superposition algorithm when the tumor is near a gold marker (especially within 0.5 cm). To rule out the presence of such dose perturbations due to a gold marker, the distance between the gold marker and the tumor must therefore be greater than 0.5 cm.