Related Experiment Video
Updated: Mar 2, 2026
Irradiator Commissioning and Dosimetry for Assessment of LQ α and β Parameters, Radiation Dosing Schema, and in vivo Dose Deposition
Published on: March 11, 2021
SU-E-T-154: Online Dose Verification with Gafchromic Film for Fixed-Gantry and Rotational Intensity Modulated
Purpose:
The patient specific quality assurance (QA) measurements for fixed-gantry and rotational intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT and VMAT/RapidArc) are usually performed on a homogeneous phantom prior to the treatment. The purpose of this study is to develop an online method to verify the delivered dose to the patient on the treatment day.
Methods:
An anthropomorphic (Rando) head phantom was immobilized in treatment position with a thermoplastic mask to simulate a real patient. A sheet of gafchromic film (EBT2) was sandwiched between a 1-cm-thick solid water slab, which was fixed to the Type-S extension board, and the patient's head hold (a pillow used here). The CT images of the Rando phantom were acquired and exported to the treatment planning systems. One step-and-shot fixed-gantry IMRT plan and one RapidArc plan were generated and the dose distributions on the film plane were calculated. The two plans were delivered to the patient (Rando phantom in this study) in the treatment position on a Varian Trilogy linear accelerator with two new films. The films were scanned, and the measurements were compared with the planned doses.
Results:
The composite dose distributions measured on the film plane were the actual delivered dose for the treatment. The comparison between the measurement and planned dose profiles shows an agreement within 3% because of the good reproducibility of phantom positioning. Gamma pass rates (using 3mm and 3% criteria) for the IMRT and RapidArc plan were found to be 95% and 94%, respectively.
Conclusions:
The phantom study has demonstrated the feasibility of using gafchromic film for online dose verification. This simple method takes into account the patient heterogeneity and the treatment associated uncertainties such as setup error, intrafraction motions and machine related variations. It can be implemented as an online physics and/or clinical QA tool without taking additional machine time.
