Quality assurance of electron and photon beam energy using the BQ-CHECK phantom

The BQ-CHECK phantom (PTW Freiburg, Germany) has been designed to be used with a 2D ion chamber array to facilitate the quality assurance (QA) of electron and photon beam qualities (BQ). The BQ-CHECK phantom has three wedges covering the diagonal axes of the beam: two opposed aluminum wedges used to measure electron energy and a single copper wedge used to measure photon energy. The purpose of this work was to assess the suitability of the BQ-CHECK phantom for use in a routine QA program. A range of percentage depth dose (PDD) curves for two photon beams and four electron beams were measured using a MP3 plotting tank (PTW Freiburg). These beams were used to irradiate a STARCHECK array (PTW Freiburg) with and without the BQ-CHECK phantom on top of the array. For photons, the ratio of the signals from two chambers underneath the copper wedge was used as an effective TPR measurement (TPR(eff)) and, for electrons, the full width at half maximum of the profile (E(FWHM)) underneath the aluminum wedges was used as an electron energy constancy measurement. PDD measurements were compared with TPR(eff) and E(FWHM) to assess the sensitivity of the BQ-CHECK phantom. The clinical tolerances of TPReff were determined for 6 MV (0.634-0.649), and 10MV (0.683-0.692). For electrons, the clinical tolerances of EFWHM were determined for 6 MeV (94.8-103.4 mm), 8 MeV (105.5-114.0 mm), 10 MeV (125.4-133.9 mm) and 12 MeV (138.8-147.3 mm).Electron and photon energy metrics are presented which demonstrate that the BQ-CHECK phantom could be used to form part of an efficient routine monthly QA program. Acceptable beam quality limits for various nominal beam energies were established and at these limits, modified profiles were acquired using the STARCHECK array. From the modified profiles, E(FWHM) and TPR(eff) were determined for the electron and photon beams, respectively. It was demonstrated that both E(FWHM) and the TPR(eff) have a linear relationship with conventional beam quality metrics.