Treatment planning system and dose delivery accuracy in extracranial stereotactic radiotherapy using Elekta body frame

The purpose of this study was to measure the photon beam transmission through the Elekta Stereotactic Body Frame (ESBF) and treatment couch, to determine the dose calculations accuracy of the MasterPlan Treatment Planning System (TPS) using Pencil Beam (PBA) and Collapsed Cone (CCA) algorithms during the use of Elekta Stereotactic Body Frame (ESBF), and to demonstrate a simple calculation method to put this transmission into account during the treatment planning dose calculations.

The dose was measured at the center of an in-house custom-built inhomogeneous PMMA thorax phantom with and without ‘the frame + treatment couch’. The phantom was CT-imaged inside the ESBF and planned with multiple 3D-CRT fields using PBA and CCA for photon beams of energies 6 MV and 10 MV. There were two treatment plans for dose calculations. In the first plan, the ‘frame + couch’ were included in the body contour and, therefore, included in the TPS dose calculations. In the second plan, the ‘frame + couch’ were not included in the body contour and, therefore, not included in the calculations. Transmission of the ‘frame + couch’ was determined by the ratio of the dose measurements with the ‘frame + couch’ to the measurements without them. To validate the accuracy of the calculation model, plans with and without the ‘frame + couch’ surrounding the phantoms were compared with their corresponding measurements.

The transmission of the ‘frame + couch’ varies from 90.23-97.54% depending on the energy, field size, the angle of the beams and whether the beams also intercept them. The validation accuracy of the Pencil Beam (PBA) and Collapsed Cone (CCA) algorithms were within 5.33% and 4.04% respectively for the individual measurements for all gantry angles under this study. The results showed that both PBA and CCA algorithms can calculate the dose to the target within 4.25% and 1.95% of the average measured value.

The attenuation caused by the ESBF and couch must be accounted into the planning process. For MasterPlan, the ‘frame + couch’ should be contoured and included in all calculations. This can be done easily and accurately.