CT and motion management Flashcards
Role of ARPANSA and WHO
Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency
World Health Organisation
- Reports on radiation incidents
- Assesses international radiation risk profiles
- Reports determined that most radiation mistakes either occur from dosimetry or stem from it
Why do incidents happen
Lack of Alertness
* causing accidental exposures
Lack of Procedures/Checks
* Not comprehensive, documented or followed
Training and Understanding
* Lack of qualified or well trained staff with unnecessary educational background or specialised training
Responsibilities
* gaps and ambiguities in the functions of staff along lines of authority
Lack of supervision to follow QA process
Chain of QA process
- assessment of patient
- diagnosis and staging
- decision to treat
- prescribing
- immobilisation and positioning
- simulation, imaging, volume delineation
- margins of volumes
- 3D imaging
- planning
- Radiation delivery
- intra fraction motion and management
Swiss Cheese Model
An accident or incident occurs only where there is an alignment of vulnerabilities
* Demonstrates the value of the ‘defence in depth’ approach to radiation safety
‘Defence in depth’ –> several independent controls contribute to overall safety
Daily CT QA tests
Alignment of lasers to gantry plane
* probable issue
* reasonable importance
CT Number
* Use of water phantom
* very important
* check through air calibration
Image noise
Spatial accuracy
- Most likely RT’s would be responsible for daily tests
- Important to review the test, understand the tolerance and advise if results are out of tolerance
Spatial Accuracy: Definition and Tolerance
Definition:
Difference between object dimensions in a CT image and the actual object dimensions
Tolerance:
+/- 1 mm
How to Measure Spatial Accuracy
Should be verified by CT scanning, using a phantom of known dimensions
Should be verified across scan protocols
What is the importance of Spatial Accuracy?
RT requires accurate and reproducible representation of the patient dimension and shape (e.g., skin contour, internal organs)
Image distortion can lead to inappropriate dose dumping to the wrong area
Inaccuracies can lead to over- or under dosing
How to Perform Laser Check
Use Wilke Phantom or Block to assess laser geometry and accuracy
Physicists can also pre-mark out the laser marks on the opposing walls
Important to note:
Daily tests only check intersection of lasers, indicating centre
* It may not necessarily check the skew and tilt present
Lasers: Definition and Tolerance
Definition:
* Alignment of the Gantry Lasers with the centre of the imaging plane
Tolerance:
+/-2mm
Tolerance depends on accuracy of treatment procedures
* Individual departments may have specific tolerances
Why is the Laser Check Important?
Treatment room lasers are well defined and allow for precise localisation of the treatment isocentre
* CT must possess the same relationship between patient position and setup
Can affect ability to accurately identify skin marks
Required for reproducible patient patient position on setup
Accuracy needs to be comparable to treatment machine lasers
Need to contact physics if found to be out of tolerance so they can be recalibrated –> this might require additional tools and checks such as alignment and reference wall marks to be updated)
How to perform Noise QA check?
Should be performed for head and body phantoms
Check phantom is placed in centre of the imaging bore (you can use table height to find the centre quickly)
Phantoms are provided by the vendor
Noise: Definition and Common Causes
Definition:
Refers to random fluctuations in pixel intensity that does not correspond to actual variations in tissue density
Arises from statistical variation in the detection of x-ray photons
Common Causes:
* X-ray dose
* Detector efficiency
* electronic interference
Noise: Tolerance
Set by vendors and manufacturers
Importance of Noise QA
Image Quality directly affects the ability to identify and delineate target volume and surrounding OARs
Presence of Noise can impact treatment planning
* suboptimal images may cause omission of target volume or inadvertent delineation of normal structures
Noise is a very sensitive parameter in overall imaging performance of scanner
QA process should allow for quick detection of image degradation
HU: Definition
Amount of radiation attenuated, with a relative comparison between that in water and in air
How to Perform HU QA test:
Need access to water-filled phantom (provided by manufacturer) (Body 32cm or Head 16cm diameter cylinder)
Manufacturer Software Auto-Generated Report to be reviewed following water phantom scan
Importance of HU QA check
CT is initially calibrated to give 0 HU value for water
* Relationship between the relative electron density to CT numbers are mapped in the TPS (CT to ED curve)
Deviation may indicate equipment fault in beam hardening or image reconstruction software issues
External definition also relies on accurate HU delineating the skin and air threshold
Can lead to:
* Incorrect water HU may lead to incorrect relative HU
- Incorrect CT number to density relationship can cause dose calculation errors in dosimetry (e.g., variations +/- 20 HU in soft tissue range can lead to dose changes approx. 1%)
CT Legislative Requirements
Radiation Shielding of Premises:
* Ensure adequate shielding based on workload
- Ensure no changes to shielding integrity (e.g., installation of power point)
- May involve radiation survey in CT room (e.g., only done in commissioning)
Equipment Compliance (Annually): * Ensuring the safe function of the CT
* Ensure proper dose levels have been set
* Independent audit of equipment
Assessment Certification:
* Outlines the tests performed
* Records are kept
- Yellow Sticker (equipment compliance) (accordance of H003:2010 Radiation Safety Standard)
- Green Sticker (premises compliance) (performed every 5 years) (QLD legislation requirement)
** TG66 can be followed for the above tests **
What is outlined in the H003:2010 Radiation Safety Standard
Legislative requirement for radiation equipment describing the standard for radiation apparatus used to carry out computed tomography
Motion management sources of positioning error
Determination of tumour position as a function of time
Calibration of spatial relation between the tracking coordinate system and beam delivery coordinate system
5 motion management strategies:
ITV, free breathing gating, breath hold gating, mid ventilation, tumour tracking
ITV: Definition
Any treatment of a target volume which encompasses the entire range of motion of the lesion
Free Breathing Gating: Definition
Any treatment where delivery of the beam is limited to a portion of the respiratory cycle as the patient breathes normally
Breath-Hold Gating: Definition
Any treatment where the delivery of the beam is limited to a portion of the respiratory cycle which is extended by a patient holding their breath