• Radiation Oncology Journal
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.391-396
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• 1995

Purpose : The Conformal Radiation Therapy has bee widely used under favour of development of computer technologies. The delivery of a large number of static radiation fields are being necessary for the conformal irradiation. In this paper we investigate dosimetric characteristics on penumbra regions of a multileaf collimator(MLC), and compare to those of lead alloy block for the optimal use of the system in 3-D conformal radiotherapy. Materials and Methods : The measurement of penumbra by MLC or lead alloy block was performed with 6 or 10 MV X-rays. The film was positioned at a dmax depth and 10 cm depth, and its optical density was determined using a scanning videodensitometer. The effective penumbra, the distance from $80{\%}$ to $20{\%}$ isodose lines and $90{\%}$ to $10{\%}$ were analyzed as a function of the angle between the direction of leaf motion and the edge defined by leaves. Results : Increasing MLC angle ($0-75^{\circ}$) was observed with increasing the penumbra widths and the scalloping effect. There was no definite differences of penumbra width from $80{\%}$ to $20{\%}$ isodose lines, while being the small increase of penumbra width from $90{\%}$ to $10{\%}$ isodose line varing the depth and energy. The effective penumbra width of lead alloy block are agree resonably with those of MLC within 4.8mm. Conclusion : The comparative qualitative study of the penumbra between MLC and lead alloy block demonstrate the clinical acceptability and suitability of the multileaf collimator for 3-D conformal radiotherapy.