Full text
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| Author(s): |
Marcelo Scolaro Morlotti
Total Authors: 1
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| Document type: | Master's Dissertation |
| Press: | São Paulo. |
| Institution: | Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Instituto de Física (IF/SBI) |
| Defense date: | 2007-03-28 |
| Examining board members: |
Elisabeth Mateus Yoshimura;
Linda Viola Ehlin Caldas;
Patrícia Nicolucci
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| Advisor: | Elisabeth Mateus Yoshimura |
| Abstract | |
The last decades noticed a massive improvement in radiotherapy techniques and the use of segmented beams produced by multileaf collimators. However, the dose radiation therapy planning systems (TPS) in use are characterized by the restriction of access to the calculation algorithms. The aim of this work was to compare dose values measured in an anthropomorphic phantom (Alderson Rando Phantom - ARP) to the reference dose values obtained from the TPS in real case simulations of radiotherapy treatments. Thermoluminescent dosimetry (TLD) technique was used to evaluate the doses. LiF dosimeters (TLD100) were positioned on the phantom pelvis, thorax, head and neck at homogeneous dose regions, as the Planned Target Volume (PTV), gradient dose regions, and areas far from PTV. The doses were delivered using two techniques, 3D conformal radiotherapy and Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy (IMRT). Four TPS were used: CadPlan, ECLIPSE, Helax-TMS and KonRad. In several situations, calculation algorithms implemented in these planning systems were employed to take heterogeneities into account: two of them were correction-based algorithms (Batho and Pencil Beam) and one of them based in beam convolution-superposition (Collapsed Cone). Furthermore, a liquid water phantom was used to compare the TLD behavior to the Farmer thimble chamber (0,6 cc internal volume) results when exposed to high-energy photon beams. It was also possible to verify the quality of the PMMA supports that wer used in the calibration of the dosimeters on clinical beam, obtaining reliable results. Both the ARP pelvis and a water phantom showed similar behavior under irradiation, indicating that, in highly homogenous regions, the ARP material can be used to simulate human soft tissues under radiotherapy treatment. Inside the PTV, the dosimetry performed in the ARP, showed compatibility between measured and planned dose values, with discrepancies smaller than 2%, which are within the ICRU62 fixed limits (+7%/-5%, 2?). When the algorithms were used, a better agreement between the experimental and planned doses was achieved, but it was not possible to discriminate the Pencil Beam and Collapsed Cone algorithms. In regions with large dose gradients, the discrepancies between experimental and planned dose values are higher as the difficulties the position of the dosimeters are more critical. The measured doses, when the 3D radiotherapy technique was used, were within the ICRU62 pre-established limits whereas the IMRT technique provider more accurate values. (AU) | |