Technique charts for Kodak's new film-screen systems for portal localization

In July 1996, Kodak released new film-screen systems with enhanced contrast (EC) for portal localization with megavoltage therapeutic beams. This study presents the generation of general-purpose technique charts for Kodak's new film-screen combinations: the Enhanced-Contrast localization (EC-L) film in EC-L cassette and the EC-L film in fast ECL (fECL) cassette for use with cobalt-60, 6 MV, 10 MV, and 18 MV beams. These technique charts were based on the assumption that a film with an optical density (OD) of 1.8 provides the best viewing density. The doses to produce such as OD, Dexp, were obtained from the H & D curves and were 1.5, 1.6, 1.7, and 1.8 cGy for cobalt-60, 6 MV, 10 MV, and 18 MV beams, respectively, with the EC-L-film + EC-L-cassette combination. The corresponding values were 1.3, 1.3, 1.3, and 1.4 cGy, respectively, for the above four beams with the EC-L-film + fEC-L-cassette combination. The dose to the film is assumed to be proportional to the calibrated dose rate (D0), field size factor (FSF), inverse square factor relative to 100.0 cm (INV), and the transmission factor through the patient, which is equal to e-uT, where u is the broad beam attenuation coefficient and T is the patient thickness. With the above assumptions, the exposure time or monitor unit, t, is then calculated from the following equation: t = Dexp/(D0*FSF*INV*e-uT). For an average port size of 15 x 15 cm, the attenuation coefficients were obtained from the fitting of TAR (cobalt-60) or TMR (6 MV, 10 MV, and 18 MV) as a function of depth from 10 to 30 cm and were 0.0564 cm-1, 0.03714 cm-1, and 0.02271 cm-1 for cobalt-60, 6 MV, 10 MV, and 18 MV beams, respectively. The FSF were explicitly obtained from the clinical physics data books and were 1.028, 1.032, 1.036, and 1.053 for cobalt-60, 6 MV, 10 MV, and 18 MV, respectively. For cobalt-60 beam, the D0 was assumed to be 100.0 cGy/min. For the 6 MV, 10 MV, and 18 MV beams, the D0 in cGy per monitor unit is 1.030, 1.051, and 1.061, respectively. Technique charts were then generated as a function of patient thickness from 10 to 45 cm for filming distance from 110 to 140 cm for all four beams. These technique charts can be easily customized to portal localization practices in a radiation therapy department.