TITLE:
Validation of Treatment Planning Dose Calculations: Experience Working with Medical Physics Practice Guideline 5.a.
AUTHORS:
Jinyu Xue, Jared D. Ohrt, James Fan, Peter Balter, Joo Han Park, Leonard Kim, Steven M. Kirsner, Geoffrey S. Ibbott
KEYWORDS:
Dose Calculation Algorithm, Treatment Planning System, Beam Data Modeling, Validation Test, MPPG 5.a.
JOURNAL NAME:
International Journal of Medical Physics, Clinical Engineering and Radiation Oncology,
Vol.6 No.1,
February
24,
2017
ABSTRACT: Recently published
Medical Physics Practice Guideline 5.a. (MPPG 5.a.) by American Association of
Physicists in Medicine (AAPM) sets the minimum requirements for treatment
planning system (TPS) dose algorithm commissioning and quality assurance (QA).
The guideline recommends some validation tests and tolerances based primarily
on published AAPM task group reports and the criteria used by IROC Houston. We
performed the commissioning and validation of the dose algorithms for both
megavoltage photon and electron beams on three linacs following MPPG 5.a. We
designed the validation experiments in an attempt to highlight the evaluation
method and tolerance criteria recommended by the guideline. It seems that
comparison of dose profiles using in-water scan is an effective technique for
basic photon and electron validation. IMRT/VMAT dose calculation is recommended
to be tested with some TG-119 and clinical cases, but no consensus of the
tolerance exists. Extensive validation tests have provided the better
understanding of the accuracy and limitation of a specific dose calculation
algorithm. We believe that some tests and evaluation criteria given in the
guideline can be further refined.