Patient-specific quality assurance of RapidArc treatments: Portal prediction dosimetry compared with phantom studies

Purpose: To validate a locally fabricated phantom of Imatrixx-2D Array by comparing its results with ArcCheck phantom and comparing portal dosimetry measurements with the two phantom studies. Materials and Methods: Electronic Portal Imaging Devices and Epiqa software were used for portal dosimetry. An Imatrixx-2D array with a locally fabricated phantom and ArcCheck cylindrical phantom were used for phantom studies. Eclipse-TPS with RapidArc treatment planning and portal dose prediction software was used for planar dose calculations. Three verification plans were created for each of the 15 patient plans of various sites, making a total of 45 plans to be delivered on 3 QA systems as above. Fifteen plans each with 2 arcs were delivered on the EPIDs of the Linacs, on Imatrixx-2D array phantom and on ArcCheck cylindrical phantom respectively. The planar dose matrices were analysed using global Gamma Index criteria of 3mm DTA and 3% dose difference. Results: The maximum deviations of percentage in dose points, in which γ>1, are 1.94, 1.89 and 1.5 in Imatrixx phantom, ArcCheck phantom and Portal dosimetry, respectively. Similarly, the mean deviations and SD values are less in portal dosimetry than that of phantom studies. The smaller deviations in portal dosimetry are attributed to closely embedded chambers in the EPID compared to the distance between the detectors placed in the phantom measurements. Conclusion: After carrying out the comparison of results, the locally fabricated phantom has been validated and accepted for the dosimetric studies. The conclusion is that all the three dosimetric QA systems are suitable for the patient-specific QA of RapidArc treatments. © 2012 Biomedical Imaging and Intervention Journal. All rights reserved.