Dose distribution analysis of physical and dynamic wedges by using an intensity-modulated radiotherapy MatriXX

Abstract

This study investigated differences between the physical wedge and the dynamic wedge distributions of radiation by using an intensity-modulated radiotherapy (ImRT) MatriXX. The linear accelerator used X-rays with energy levels of 6 MV and 10 MV to adjust the collimator by motoring the independent jaws (X1, X2, Y1, Y2) for setting wedge angles of 15, 30, 45, and 60 degrees. The collimator field size was set as 10 x 10 cm(2) or 20 x 20 cm(2) at the maximum dose point. The dose distribution for each wedge had +/- 5% and +/- 11% errors for field sizes of 10 x 10 cm(2) and 20 x 20 cm(2), respectively. The error was greatest at a wedge angle of 45 degrees and was pronounced at the end of the dynamic wedge where Y1 and Y2 met. Consequently, concluded that the dose distributions were similar for both wedges for the field size of a small beam profile. The beam dose was greatly increased at the end of the dynamic wedge. A more precise estimate of the therapeutic dose of radiation for a dynamic wedge that nearly matches that of the physical wedge can be achieved by correcting of the increasing part of the beam dose. The findings imply that a heavy wedge filter should not be used when calculating the isodose distribution and the therapeutic dose.