Peripheral dose from megavoltage cone‐beam CT imaging for nasopharyngeal carcinoma image‐guided radiation therapy

The growing use of cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) for IGRT has increased concerns over the additional radiation dose to patients. The in-field dose of IGRT and the peripheral dose (PD) from kilovoltage CBCT (KV-CBCT) imaging have been well quantified. The purpose of this work is to evaluate the peripheral dose from megavoltage CBCT (MV-CBCT) imaging for nasopharyngeal carcinoma IGRT, to determine the correlation of peripheral dose with MU protocol and imaging field size, and to estimate out-of-field organ-at-risk (OAR) dose delivered to patients. Measurements of peripheral MV-CBCT doses were made with a 0.65 cm(3) ionization chamber placed inside in a specially designed phantom at various depths and distances from the imaging field edges. The peripheral dose at reference point inside the phantom was measured with the same ionization chamber to investigate the linearity between MUs used for MV-CBCT imaging and the PD. The peripheral surface doses at the anterior, lateral, and posterior of the phantom at various distances from the imaging field edge were also measured with thermoluminescent dosimeters (TLDs). Seven nasopharyngeal carcinoma patients were selected and scanned before treatment with head-neck protocol, and the peripheral surface doses were measured with TLDs placed on the anterior, lateral, and posterior surfaces at the axial plane of 15 cm distance from the field edge. The measured peripheral doses data in the phantom were utilized to estimate the peripheral OAR dose. Peripheral dose from MV-CBCT imaging increased with increasing number of MUs used for imaging protocol and with increasing the imaging field size. The measured peripheral doses in the phantom decreased as distance from the imaging field edges increased. PD also decreased as the depth from the phantom surface increased. For the patient PD measurements, the anterior, lateral, and posterior surface doses of 15 cm distance from the field edge were 2.84 × 10(-2), 1.01 × 10(-2), and 0.78 × 10(-2) cGy/MU, respectively. The lens, thyroid, breast, and ovary and testicle, which are outside the treatment and imaging fields, were estimated to receive peripheral OAR doses from MV-CBCT imaging of 42.4 × 10(-2), 11.9 × 10(-2), 1.4 × 10(-2), 1.0 × 10(-2), and 0.5 × 10(-2) cGy/MU, respectively. In conclusion, MV-CBCT generates a peripheral dose beyond the edge of the MV-CBCT scanning field that is of a similar order of magnitude to the peripheral dose from kV-CBCT imaging. In clinic, using the smallest number of MUs allowable and reducing MV-CBCT scanning field size without compromising acquired image quality is an effective method of reducing the peripheral OAR dose received by patients.