A formalism to calculate the output ratio in a mini-phantom for a GE multileaf collimator

A GE multileaf collimator (MLC) has been recently installed on a Saturne 43 and is used with 6, 18 and 25 MV photon beams. In the integrated GE MLC the lower pair of jaws in the X direction is replaced by 32 pairs of computer controlled opposed tungsten leaves. The influence of each set of leaves on the output ratio is smaller than the influence of the jaws it replaces (8% instead of 10%). For irregular fields it is necessary to evaluate the influence on the output ratio of each independent leaf. It is assumed that each leaf and each jaw have an independent influence on the output ratio. According to this assumption leaf correction functions are derived from measurements as a function of their X position. A second-order correction (less than 1%) has to be applied for the jaw positions. The output ratio in a mini-phantom for a given irregular field can be calculated by the product of the 64 leaf and two jaw correction factors. The formalism is applied to symmetric square and rectangular fields, asymmetric and irregular fields. For all fields checked, the calculated and the measured output ratios agree within 1%. Furthermore the simple formula suggested by Vadash and Bjărngard for square field sizes equivalent to rectangular fields can be used with a good accuracy with an A value of 1.6 for the three energies used. The proposed formalism to calculate the output ratio in a mini-phantom is restricted to fields including the collimator axis with a minimum distance of 2 cm between any leaf and the collimator axis.