Output factor comparison of Monte Carlo and measurement for Varian TrueBeam 6 MV and 10 MV flattening filter-free stereotactic radiosurgery system.

In this study, we report a comparison of Monte Carlo simulations and measurements of output factors for the Varian SRS system with conical collimators for energies of 6 MV flattening filter-free (6 MV) and 10 MV flattening filter-free (10 MV) on the TrueBeam accelerator. Monte Carlo simulations of Varian's SRS system for 6 MV and 10 MV photon energies with cones sizes of 17.5 mm, 15.0 mm, 12.5 mm, 10.0 mm, 7.5 mm, 5.0 mm, and 4.0 mm were performed using EGSnrc (release V4 2.4.0) codes. Varian's version-2 phase-space files for 6 MV and 10 MV of TrueBeam accelerator were utilized in the Monte Carlo simulations. Two small diode detectors Edge (Sun Nuclear) and Small Field Detector (SFD) (IBA Dosimetry) were applied to measure the output factors. Significant errors may result if detector correction factors are not applied to small field dosimetric measurements. Although it lacked the machine-specific kfclin,fmsrQclin,Qmsr correction factors for diode detectors in this study, correction factors were applied utilizing published studies conducted under similar conditions. For cone diameters greater than or equal to 12.5 mm, the differences between output factors for the Edge detector, SFD detector, and MC simulations are within 3.0% for both energies. For cone diameters below 12.5 mm, output factors differences exhibit greater variations.
PMID: 27167266 [PubMed - in process]

Source: Journal of Applied Clinical Medical Physics - May 15, 2016 Category: Physics Authors: Cheng JY, Ning H, Arora BC, Zhuge Y, Miller RW Tags: J Appl Clin Med Phys Source Type: research