EPID-guided 3D dose verification of lung SBRT

Purpose: To investigate the feasibility of utilizing tumor tracks from electronic portal imaging device (EPID) images taken during treatment to verify the delivered dose. Methods: The proposed method is based on a computation of the delivered fluence by utilizing the planned fluence and the tumor motion track for each field. A phantom study was designed to assess the feasibility of the method. The CIRS dynamic thorax phantom was utilized with a realistic soft resin tumor, modeled after a real patient tumor. The dose calculated with the proposed method was compared to direct measurements taken with 15 metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistors (MOSFETs) inserted in small fissures made in the tumor model. The phantom was irradiated with the tumor static and moved with different range of motions and setup errors. EPID images were recorded throughout all deliveries and the tumor model was tracked post-treatment with in-house developed software. The planned fluence for each field was convolved with the tumor motion tracks to obtain the delivered fluence. Utilizing the delivered fluence from each field, the delivered dose was calculated. The estimated delivered dose was compared to the dose directly measured with the MOSFETs. The feasibility of the proposed method was also demonstrated on a real lung cancer patient, treated with stereotactic body radiotherapy. Results: The calculation of delivered dose with the delivered fluence method was in good agreement with the MOSFET measurements, with average differences ranging from 0.8% to 8.3% depending on the proximity of a dose gradient. For the patient treatment, the planned and delivered dose volume histograms were compared and verified the overall good coverage of the target volume. Conclusions: The delivered fluence method was applied successfully on phantom and clinical data and its accuracy was evaluated. Verifying each treatment fraction may enable correction strategies that can be applied during the course of treatment to ensure the desired dose coverage. (C) 2011 American Association of Physicists in Medicine. [DOI: 10.1118/1.3532821]