• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.52 no.9
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• pp.2064-2071
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• 2020

For proton pencil beam scanning (PBS) technology, the accuracy of the dose distribution in a patient is sensitive to the properties of the incident beam. However, mechanical deformation of the proton therapy facility may occur, and this could be an important factor affecting the proton dose distribution in patients. In this paper, we investigated the effect of deformation on an SC200 proton facility's beam isocenter properties. First, mechanical deformation of the PBS nozzle, L-shape plate, and gantry were simulated using a Finite Element code, ANSYS. Then, the impact of the mechanical deformation on the beam's isocenter properties was evaluated using empirical formulas. In addition, we considered the simplest case that could affect the properties of the incident beam (i.e. if only the bending magnet (BG3) has an error in its mounting alignment), and the effect of the beam optics offset on the isocenter characteristics was evaluated. The results showed that the deformation of the beam position in the X and Y direction was less than 0.27 mm, which meets the structural design requirements. Compared to the mechanical deformation of the L-shape plate, the deformation of the gantry had more influence on the beam's isocenter properties. When the error in the mounting alignment of the BG3 is equal to or more than 0.3 mm, the beam deformation at the isocenter exceeds the maximum accepted deformation limits. Generally speaking, for the current design of the SC200 scanning beam delivery system, the effects of mechanical deformation meet the maximum accepted beam deformation limits. In order to further study the effect of the incident beam optics on the isocenter properties, a fine-scale Monte Carlo model including factors relating to the PBS nozzle and the BG3 should be developed in future research.

• The Journal of Korean Society for Radiation Therapy
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.53-60
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• 2010

Purpose: We try to calculate EDW-factor easily with the formula applies essential data of EDW-factor and evaluate the validity through a measurement. Materials and Methods: We used the given value of GSTT (Golden Segmented Treatment Table) for the calculation of the EDW-factor. As to the experimental device, 0.6 cc farmer-type ion-chamber, an electrometer and water- phantom were used. A measurement was made at the maximum dose depth of the photon beam energy 6 MV and 15 MV under the condition that SSD (Source to Surface Distance) was 100 cm. The angle of the EDW (Enhanced Dynamic Wedge) which we use in an experiment was 60 degree, 30 degree, 20 degree in the Y1-OUT direction. We used Eclipse planning system (Varian, USA) as RTP system and the EDW-factor was calculated about all fields and EDW direction. In order to show the EDW-factor feature, a measurement was made at the selected field that verify the influence of the dependability about X, Y jaw and off-axis field. Results: When we change the Y1 field, it influence on the EDW-Factor and measured value. But the error between measured values and calculated values was less than 1%. The experimental result indicated the tendency that the error of the result of calculation and measured value becomes smaller as the EDW angle become smaller whether the calculation point (measurement point) and iso-center are same or not. The influence of the field size and energy did not show up. We simulated with the same condition using the RTP system. And we found that it makes no difference between the MU which is calculated manually by applying the EDW-Factor obtained from the commercial program and the value which is calculated by using RTP system. Conclusion: We excluded fitting value from well-known EDW-Factor formula and calculated EDW-factor with the formula applies essential data of EDW-factor only. As a result, there are no significant difference between the measured value and calculated value and it showed errors less than 1%. Also, we implemented the commercial program to calculate EDW-Factor conveniently without measure a factor on each field.