Long-term stability and mechanical characteristics of kV digital imaging system for proton radiotherapy

To quantitatively evaluate the long-term image panel positioning stability and gantry angle dependence for gantry-mounted kV imaging systems.

For patient setup digital imaging systems in isocentric rotating proton beam delivery facilities, physical crosshairs are commonly inserted into the snout to define the kV x-ray beam isocenter. Utilizing an automatic detection algorithm, the authors analyzed the crosshair center positions in 2744 patient setup kV images acquired with the four imagers in two treatment rooms from January 2012 to January 2013. The crosshair position was used as a surrogate for imaging panel position, and its long-term stability at the four cardinal angles and the panel flex dependency on gantry angle was investigated.

The standard deviation of the panel position distributions was within 0.32 mm (with the range of variation less than ± 1.4 mm) in both the X-Z plane and Y direction. The mean panel inplane rotations were not more than 0.51° for the four panels at the cardinal angles, with standard deviations ≤ 0.26°. The panel position variations with gantry rotation due to gravity (flex) were within ± 4 mm, and were panel-specific.

The authors demonstrated that the kV image panel positions in our proton treatment system were highly reproducible at the cardinal angles over 13 months and also that the panel positions can be correlated to gantry angles. This result indicates that the kV image panel positions are stable over time; the amount of panel sag is predictable during gantry rotation and the physical crosshair for kV imaging may eventually be removed, with the imaging beam isocenter position routinely verified by adequate quality assurance procedures and measurements.