Generalized EPID calibration for in vivo transit dosimetry.

Many researchers are studying new in vivo dosimetry methods based on the use of Elelctronic portal imaging devices (EPIDs) that are simple and efficient in their daily use. However the need of time consuming implementation measurements with solid water phantoms for the in vivo dosimetry implementation can discourage someone in their use. In this paper a procedure has been proposed to calibrate aSi EPIDs for in vivo transit dosimetry. The dosimetric equivalence of three aSi Varian EPIDs has been investigated in terms of signal reproducibility and long term stability, signal linearity with MU and dose per pulse and signal dependence on the field dimensions. The signal reproducibility was within ± 0.5% (2SD), while the long term signal stability has been maintained well within ± 2%. The signal linearity with the monitor units (MU) was within ± 2% and within ± 0.5% for the EPIDs controlled by the IAS 2, and IAS 3 respectively. In particular it was verified that the correction factor for the signal linearity with the monitor units, k(lin), is independent of the beam quality, and the dose per pulse absorbed by the EPID. For 6, 10 and 15 MV photon beams, a generalized set of correlation functions F(TPR,w,L) and empirical factors f(TPR,d,L) as a function of the Tissue Phantom Ratio (TPR), the phantom thickness, w, the square field side, L, and the distance, d, between the phantom mid-plane and the isocentre were determined to reconstruct the isocenter dose. The tolerance levels of the present in vivo dosimetry method ranged between ± 5% and ± 6% depending on the tumor body location. In conclusion, the procedure proposed, that use generalized correlation functions, reduces the effort for the in vivo dosimetry method implementation for those photon beams with TPR within ± 0.3% as respect those here used.