DOE OSTI2016
The goal of modern external beam radiotherapy is to deliver a highly targeted radiation dose to a specified treatment volume while sparing the healthy surrounding tissue as much as possible. However, some healthy tissue radiation exposure is unavoidable. Healthy tissue in the margin of the treatment field will receive absorbed doses on the order of the prescribed dose, and tissue far out of field will receive stray dose from scattered and leakage radiation. These doses can lead to late effects such as secondary cancers both near the treatment field and far out of field in tissues only receiving stray radiation dose. Many researchers have investigated algorithms to model absorbed dose from external beam photon radiation therapy; however, none of these works have fully addressed the stray dose far from the treatment field. The AAPM Task Group Report No. 36 described three main sources of stray radiation from external beam radiation therapy delivered with electron linear accelerators. Radiation scattered from the treatment head, known as head scatter, is primarily important within about 10 cm from the field edge. Patient scatter is an important source up to around 30 cm from the field edge. Finally, leakage radiation emanates from the treatment enclosure and predominates the stray radiation dose beyond about 30 cm. Monte Carlo simulations have been a useful research tool for modeling stray dose, but these methods have not found use in clinical settings due to their complexity and long computational times. The feasibility of analytical models to predict stray dose from radiation therapy has been supported by several works, but few attempts have been made at developing models accurate for both in-field and out-of-field doses. Jagetic and Newhauser reported on one such model that predicts absorbed dose from therapeutic, scatter, and leakage radiation with promising results. This model was validated at 6 MV for Conformal Radiation Therapy (CRT) beams from an Elekta linac. Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy (IMRT) was not considered, and the model has not been tested at beam energies greater than 6 MV. Additionally, this model relies on proprietary, machine specific parameters, and so adapting the model for use on treatment units from other manufacturers is not straightforward. In this study we aim to test whether a physics-based analytical modeling approach is broadly applicable and if sufficient accuracy can be achieved without the need for proprietary, machine specific parameters. In order to accomplish this, a new analytical model was developed that does not rely on machine specific parameters, so that it can easily be trained on measurements from whatever treatment machine is available at a given clinic. This model was tested using measured data from a variety of treatment machines and techniques in the 6 MV to 25 MV energy interval. (authors)
61 RADIATION PROTECTION AND DOSIMETRY↗