Linear accelerator ; Quality assurance ; Light field ; Radiation field
Abstract
The coincidence of light and radiation fields is an important quality assurance test for accurate beam delivery in a linear accelerator (LINAC), and is recommended to be checked monthly by the American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM). The test-related conventional tools may yield different results, especially without a commercial software, depending on the user, even if the tolerance suggested by the AAPM is very tight. This study was conducted to develop a semiautomatic film analyzer, called FSChecker, for a simple, easy, and consistent quantitative evaluation of the LINAC light and radiation field coincidence, without commercial tools. The FSChecker has two components, a dedicated grid paper and an analyzing software based on MATLAB. Comparing the results obtained from the FSChecker with those of a commercial software revealed that the FSChecker could provide a reasonable and reliable analysis for the coincidence test of light and radiation fields in a LINAC with various scan parameters, including an office-level configuration.