Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Performance of a linear accelerator couch positioning quality control task using an electronic portal imaging device

  • Published:
Radiological Physics and Technology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Short and semi-automated quality assurance (QA) programs are becoming one of the most popular and highly demanding tasks in radiotherapy. The current research investigates the accuracy of a four degrees of freedom (4DoF) medical linear accelerator couch positioning with a fast and accurate method based on images acquired using an electronic portal imaging device (EPID). An accurate EPID QA phantom and a proper in-house code were used. A Siemens medical linear accelerator equipped with an a-Si EPID was used to acquire portal images. For verifying the mechanical performance of the EPID positioning, EPID sensitivity, and accuracy of the code response from the image processing point of view were investigated. To characterize the results, three deviations in the phantom positioning were deliberately created. The translational and rotational displacements of the treatment couch were then evaluated. The loading effect on the treatment couch was then investigated. The results of prerequisite tests, including the mechanical performance of the EPID, and the sensitivity and accuracy of the recognition codes, were assessed. The results were found to be within the tolerance range reported at AAPM TG-142. The mean deviations of the tests between expected and measured displacements by 4DoF treatment couch were found to be 0.13° ± 0.11°, 0.12 ± 0.17 mm, 0.17 ± 0.13 mm, and 0.04 ± 0.09 mm for rotational, longitudinal, lateral, and vertical shifts, respectively. The results showed that the proposed method is a reliable and fast approach to find the uncertainties occurring intreatment couch positioning.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Fig. 1
Fig. 2

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Verellen D, De Ridder M, Linthout N, Tournel K, Soete G, Storme G. Innovations in image-guided radiotherapy. Nat Rev Cancer. 2007;7:949.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Schwarz M, Giske K, Stoll A, Nill S, Huber PE, Debus J, et al. IGRT versus non-IGRT for postoperative head-and-neck IMRT patients: dosimetric consequences arising from a PTV margin reduction. Radiat Oncol. 2012;7:133.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Sandler HM, Liu P-Y, Dunn RL, Khan DC, Tropper SE, Sanda MG, et al. Reduction in patient-reported acute morbidity in prostate cancer patients treated with 81-Gy Intensity-modulated radiotherapy using reduced planning target volume margins and electromagnetic tracking: assessing the impact of margin reduction study. Urology. 2010;75:1004–8.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Molinelli S, de Pooter J, Romero AM, Wunderink W, Cattaneo M, Calandrino R, et al. Simultaneous tumour dose escalation and liver sparing in stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) for liver tumours due to CTV-to-PTV margin reduction. Radiother Oncol. 2008;87:432–8.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Hyer DE, Mart CJ, Nixon E. Development and implementation of an EPID-based method for localizing isocenter. J Appl Clin Med Phys. 2012;13:72–81.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Hammoud R, Patel SH, Pradhan D, Kim J, Guan H, Li S, et al. Examining margin reduction and its impact on dose distribution for prostate cancer patients undergoing daily cone-beam computed tomography. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys. 2008;71:265–73.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Klein EE, Hanley J, Bayouth J, Yin FF, Simon W, Dresser S, et al. Task Group 142 report: quality assurance of medical accelerators. Med Phys. 2009;36:4197–212.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Kutcher GJ, Coia L, Gillin M, Hanson WF, Leibel S, Morton RJ, et al. Comprehensive QA for radiation oncology: report of AAPM radiation therapy committee task group 40. Med Phys. 1994;21:581–618.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Ébastien Clippe S, Sarrut D, Malet C, Miguet S, Ginestet C, Carrie C. Patient setup error measurement using 3D intensity-based image registration techniques. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys. 2003;56:259–65.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Wilbert J, Guckenberger M, Polat B, Sauer O, Vogele M, Flentje M, et al. Semi-robotic 6 degree of freedom positioning for intracranial high precision radiotherapy; first phantom and clinical results. Radiat Oncol. 2010;5:42.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Takemura A, Ueda S, Noto K, Kojima H, Isomura N. Comparison of the motion accuracy of a six degrees of freedom radiotherapy couch with and without weights. Int J Med Phys Clin Eng Radiat Oncol. 2013;2:69.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Schmidhalter D, Fix M, Wyss M, Schaer N, Munro P, Scheib S, et al. Evaluation of a new six degrees of freedom couch for radiation therapy. Med Phys. 2013;40:111710.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. Dhabaan A, Schreibmann E, Siddiqi A, Elder E, Fox T, Ogunleye T, et al. Six degrees of freedom CBCT-based positioning for intracranial targets treated with frameless stereotactic radiosurgery. J Appl Clin Med Phys. 2012;13:215–25.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Rowshanfarzad P, Sabet M, O'Connor DJ, McCowan PM, McCurdy B, Greer PB. Detection and correction for EPID and gantry sag during arc delivery using cine EPID imaging. Med Phys. 2012;39:623–35.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Yousif Y, Van Rensburg A. Performance evaluation of the siemens electronic portal imaging device for IMRT plan verification. Int J Med Phys Clin Eng Radiat Oncol. 2015;4:215.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Murthy KK, Al-Rahbi Z, Sivakumar S, Davis C, Ravichandran R, El Ghamrawy K. Verification of setup errors in external beam radiation therapy using electronic portal imaging. J Med Phys/Assoc Med Physicists India. 2008;33:49.

    Google Scholar 

  17. Das IJ, Cao M, Cheng CW, Misic V, Scheuring K, Schüle E, et al. A quality assurance phantom for electronic portal imaging devices. J Appl Clin Med Phys. 2011;12:391–403.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Pesznyák C, Polgár I, Weisz C, Király R, Zaránd P. Verification of quality parameters for portal images in radiotherapy. Radiol Oncol. 2011;45:68–74.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. Misiarz A, Krawczyk P, Swat K, Andrasiak M. Assessment of the influence of a carbon fiber tabletop on portal imaging. Nucl Instrum Methods Phys Res Sect A. 2013;714:53–7.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  20. Pesznyák C, Fekete G, Mózes Á, Kiss B, Király R, Polgár I, et al. Quality control of portal imaging with PTW EPID QC phantom®. Strahlenther Onkol. 2009;185:56–60.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Funding

None.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Physics Department, School of Sciences, Hakim Sabzevari University, Sabzevar, Iran

    A. Afzalifar & A. A. Mowlavi

  2. ICTP, Associate Federation Scheme,, Medical Physics Field, Trieste, Italy

    A. A. Mowlavi

  3. Department of Medical Physics, Royal Adelaide Hospital, Adelaide, SA, 5000, Australia

    M. Mohammadi

  4. School of Physical Sciences, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA, 5005, Australia

    M. Mohammadi

Authors
  1. A. Afzalifar
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. A. A. Mowlavi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. M. Mohammadi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to M. Mohammadi.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

Azam Afzalifar declares that she has no conflict of interest. Ali Asghar Mowlavi declares that he has no conflict of interest. Mohammad Mohammadi declares that he has no conflict of interest.

Ethical approval

This article does not contain any studies with human participants or animals performed by any of the authors.

Informed consent

None.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Afzalifar, A., Mowlavi, A.A. & Mohammadi, M. Performance of a linear accelerator couch positioning quality control task using an electronic portal imaging device. Radiol Phys Technol 13, 195–200 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12194-020-00557-4

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12194-020-00557-4

Keywords

Search

Navigation