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Minimum requirements for commissioning and long-term quality assurance of Elekta multi-leaf collimator for volumetric modulated arc therapy

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Abstract

We have proposed minimum requirements for commissioning and long-term quality assurance (QA) of an Elekta multi-leaf collimator (MLC) for volumetric modulated arc therapy (VMAT). The MLC leaf position accuracy during VMAT delivery was evaluated with the use of three different QA test plans: (1) a leaf gap-width test between opposing leaves by measurement of the isocenter dose during constant-gap sliding-window delivery with varied dose rates, MLC leaf speeds, and gantry angles; (2) a leaf position test by picket-fence delivery with and without gantry rotation; and (3) a leaf-bank symmetry test by measurement of the field geometry with different collimator angles at a fixed gantry position. All the QA test plans were created using an ERGO++ treatment-planning system. The leaf gap-width deviation was within 0.2 mm, the leaf position deviation was within 0.5 mm, and the leaf-bank symmetry error was within 0.5 mm under all the test conditions. MLC leaf position accuracy and long-term stability were confirmed by the proposed procedures.

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Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful to Dr Kiyoshi Yoda of Elekta KK for his guidance and encouragement. The authors also wish to express their gratitude to Mr. Masanori Miyazawa of R-TECH for his dedicated efforts to provide additional film data analysis functions in their software product, the DD system. They would further like to thank the staff of the Osaka City University Hospital, who helped them during the study. This study was partially supported by a grant from Elekta KK.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Radiology, Osaka City University Hospital, 1-5-7 Asahimachi, Abenoku, Osaka, 545-8586, Japan

    Daisaku Tatsumi, Ryosei Nakada, Akane Yomoda, Makoto Inoue & Takao Ichida

  2. Department of Radiology, Osaka City University Graduate School of Medicine, 1-4-3 Asahimachi, Abenoku, Osaka, 545-8585, Japan

    Kentaro Ishii, Shinichi Tsutsumi, Masako N. Hosono & Yukio Miki

Authors
  1. Daisaku Tatsumi
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  2. Ryosei Nakada
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  3. Akane Yomoda
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  4. Kentaro Ishii
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  5. Shinichi Tsutsumi
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  6. Makoto Inoue
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  7. Takao Ichida
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  8. Masako N. Hosono
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  9. Yukio Miki
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Daisaku Tatsumi.

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Tatsumi, D., Nakada, R., Yomoda, A. et al. Minimum requirements for commissioning and long-term quality assurance of Elekta multi-leaf collimator for volumetric modulated arc therapy. Radiol Phys Technol 6, 98–106 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12194-012-0175-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12194-012-0175-0

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