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Verification of a novel method for tube voltage constancy measurement of orthovoltage x-ray irradiators.

Publication ,  Journal Article
Wang, C; Belley, MD; Chao, NJ; Dewhirst, MW; Yoshizumi, T
Published in: Med Phys
August 2014

PURPOSE: For orthovoltage x-ray irradiators, the tube voltage is one of the most fundamental system parameters as this directly relates to the dosimetry in radiation biology studies; however, to the best of our knowledge, there is no commercial portable quality assurance (QA) tool to directly test the constancy of the tube voltage greater than 160 kV. The purpose of this study is to establish the Beam Quality Index (BQI), a quantity strongly correlated to the tube voltage, as an alternative parameter for the verification of the tube voltage as part of the QA program of orthovoltage x-ray irradiators. METHODS: A multipurpose QA meter and its associated data acquisition software were used to customize the measurement parameters to measure the BQI and collect its time-plot. BQI measurements were performed at 320 kV with four filtration levels on three orthovoltage x-ray irradiators of the same model, one of which had been recently energy-calibrated at the factory. RESULTS: For each of the four filtration levels, the measured BQI values were in good agreement (<5%) between the three irradiators. BQI showed filtration-specificity, possibly due to the difference in beam quality. CONCLUSIONS: The BQI has been verified as a feasible alternative for monitoring the constancy of the tube voltage for orthovoltage irradiators. The time-plot of BQI offers information on the behavior of beam energy at different phases of the irradiation time line. In addition, this would provide power supply performance characteristics from initial ramp-up to plateau, and finally, the sharp drop-off at the end of the exposure.

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Published In

Med Phys

DOI

EISSN

2473-4209

Publication Date

August 2014

Volume

41

Issue

8

Start / End Page

084101

Location

United States

Related Subject Headings

  • X-Rays
  • Software
  • Radiometry
  • Nuclear Medicine & Medical Imaging
  • Feasibility Studies
  • 5105 Medical and biological physics
  • 4003 Biomedical engineering
  • 1112 Oncology and Carcinogenesis
  • 0903 Biomedical Engineering
  • 0299 Other Physical Sciences
 

Citation

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Wang, C., Belley, M. D., Chao, N. J., Dewhirst, M. W., & Yoshizumi, T. (2014). Verification of a novel method for tube voltage constancy measurement of orthovoltage x-ray irradiators. Med Phys, 41(8), 084101. https://doi.org/10.1118/1.4889778
Wang, Chu, Matthew D. Belley, Nelson J. Chao, Mark W. Dewhirst, and Terry Yoshizumi. “Verification of a novel method for tube voltage constancy measurement of orthovoltage x-ray irradiators.Med Phys 41, no. 8 (August 2014): 084101. https://doi.org/10.1118/1.4889778.
Wang C, Belley MD, Chao NJ, Dewhirst MW, Yoshizumi T. Verification of a novel method for tube voltage constancy measurement of orthovoltage x-ray irradiators. Med Phys. 2014 Aug;41(8):084101.
Wang, Chu, et al. “Verification of a novel method for tube voltage constancy measurement of orthovoltage x-ray irradiators.Med Phys, vol. 41, no. 8, Aug. 2014, p. 084101. Pubmed, doi:10.1118/1.4889778.
Wang C, Belley MD, Chao NJ, Dewhirst MW, Yoshizumi T. Verification of a novel method for tube voltage constancy measurement of orthovoltage x-ray irradiators. Med Phys. 2014 Aug;41(8):084101.

Published In

Med Phys

DOI

EISSN

2473-4209

Publication Date

August 2014

Volume

41

Issue

8

Start / End Page

084101

Location

United States

Related Subject Headings

  • X-Rays
  • Software
  • Radiometry
  • Nuclear Medicine & Medical Imaging
  • Feasibility Studies
  • 5105 Medical and biological physics
  • 4003 Biomedical engineering
  • 1112 Oncology and Carcinogenesis
  • 0903 Biomedical Engineering
  • 0299 Other Physical Sciences