Feasibility of using a transmission ion chamber for QA tests of medical linear accelerators

PurposeTo study the feasibility of using the Integral Quality Monitoring (IQM) system for routine quality assurance (QA) of photon beams.MethodsThe IQM system is a commercially available dose delivery verification tool, which consists of a spatially sensitive large area transmission ion chamber, mounted on the Linac collimator, and a calculation algorithm to predict the signals in response to radiation beams. By comparing the measured and predicted signals the system verifies the accuracy of beam delivery. The ion chamber unit is a battery powered system including a dual-electrometer, temperature and pressure sensors, and inclinometers. The feasibility of using the IQM system for routine QA tests was investigated by measuring constancy values of beam parameters, with specially designed tests fields, and comparing them with those determined by a conventional system.ResultsThe sensitivity of the beam output constancy measurements by the IQM system was found to agree with those measured by a Farmer type ion chamber placed in water phantoms to within 0.1% for typical daily output variation of +/- 0.5% and +/- 1%. The beam symmetry was measured with a 4 cm x 4 cm aperture at multiple off-axis distances and was found to have a highly linear relationship with those measured in a water phantom scan for intentionally introduced asymmetry between -3% and +3%. The beam flatness was measured with a two-field ratio method and was found to be linearly correlated with those measured by water phantom scan. The dosimetric equivalent of a picket fence test performed by the IQM system can serve as a constancy check of the multileaf collimator (MLC) bank positioning test.ConclusionsThe IQM system has been investigated for constancy measurements of various beam parameters for photon beams. The results suggest that the system can be used for most of the routine QA tests effectively and efficiently.