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Introducing a new approach for calibrating radiotherapy room lasers without using external laser source or dedicated phantoms

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Abstract

Introduction

Laser markers installed on the walls and ceiling of the bunker are usually used for patient positioning in radiotherapy. Therefore, they directly influence radiotherapy treatment accuracy. The present study aimed to develop a new method without using an external portable laser source or any dedicated laser alignment phantom to align the radiotherapy setup lasers installed in treatment bunkers.

Methods

A patient-specific IMRT quality assurance phantom (OCTAVIUS 4D in our study) was used as a phantom having a similar size of patients and surface markers precisely showing the central point of the phantom. After ensuring the precise coincidence between light and radiation isocenters at various gantry angles (0, 90, and 270 degrees), true laser positions were found optically by matching the shadows of all the cross hair lines (CHLs) on the external window of the gantry head and also on the phantom surface at various gantry angles. The distances between the laser lines and light field crosslines on the treatment room walls for our proposed approach were compared with the conventional laser calibration technique (laser calibration with an external laser source positioned in the machine isocenter) and reported as laser alignment accuracy.

Results

The mean displacements performed for laser alignment on the phantom surface were 1.2 ± 0.2, 1.1 ± 0.1, and 1.0 ± 0.1 mm for sagittal, coronal, and axial lasers, respectively. These displacements on the gantry head exit plane were 1.4 ± 0.3, 1.2 ± 0.2, and 1.1 ± 0.1 mm, respectively. Mean value of laser alignment accuracy on the wall of the treatment room was 19.5 ± 0.5 mm for our new method, whilst it was 32.7 ± 0.7 mm for adjusting lasers with the conventional method.

Conclusion

Our new approach for laser alignment was performed and evaluated successfully. This method can provided a more accurate procedure than the conventional method without needing an external laser source or dedicated laser alignment phantom.

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Fig. 1
Fig. 2

Data availability

The data used to support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon request.

Code Availability

Not applicable.

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Funding

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Business Administration, Business School, Al al-Bayt University, P.O.BOX 130040, Mafraq, 25113, Jordan

    Sulieman Ibraheem Shelash Al-Hawary

  2. Pharmaceutics and Pharmaceutical Technology, Taif University, Taif, Saudi Arabia

    Hashem O. Alsaab

  3. Medical Technical College, Al-Farahidi University, Baghdad, Iraq

    Daha Thabit

  4. Technical Engineering Department College of Technical Engineering, The Islamic University, Najaf, Iraq

    M. Abdulfadhil Gatea

  5. Department of Physics, College of Science, University of Kufa, Kufa, Iraq

    M. Abdulfadhil Gatea

  6. Independent Researcher, Khartoum, Sudan

    Mustafa Mahmoud

  7. College of Health and Medical Technology, Al-Ayen University, Thi-Qar, Iraq

    Mohammed N. Fenjan

  8. Department of Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

    Samira Abbaspour

  9. Department of Medical Physics Radiobiology and Radiation Protection, School of Medicine, Babol University of Medical Sciences, Babol, Iran

    Razzagh Abedi-Firouzjah

  10. Department of Medical Physics, Faculty of Medical Sciences, Tarbiat Modares University, Al-Ahmad and Chamran Cross, Tehran, 1411713116, Iran

    Amin Banaei

Authors
  1. Sulieman Ibraheem Shelash Al-Hawary
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  2. Hashem O. Alsaab
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  3. Daha Thabit
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  4. M. Abdulfadhil Gatea
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  5. Mustafa Mahmoud
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  6. Mohammed N. Fenjan
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  7. Samira Abbaspour
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  8. Razzagh Abedi-Firouzjah
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  9. Amin Banaei
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Contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection and analysis were performed by Sulieman Ibraheem Shelash Al-Hawary, Hashem O. Alsaab, Daha Thabit, and Amin Banaei. The first draft of the manuscript was written by M. Abdulfadhil Gatea and Mustafa Mahmoud. Mohammed N. Fenjan, Samira Abbaspour, and Razzagh Abedi-Firouzjah commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Amin Banaei.

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Al-Hawary, S.I.S., Alsaab, H.O., Thabit, D. et al. Introducing a new approach for calibrating radiotherapy room lasers without using external laser source or dedicated phantoms. Health Technol. (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12553-024-00831-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12553-024-00831-0

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