A six-degree-of-freedom robotic motion system for quality assurance of real-time image-guided radiotherapy

In this study we develop and characterise a six degree-of-freedom (6 DoF) robotic motion system for quality assurance of real-time image-guided radiotherapy techniques. The system consists of a commercially available robotic arm, an acrylic phantom with embedded Calypso markers, a custom base plate to mount the robot to the treatment couch, and control software implementing the appropriate sequence of transformations to reproduce measured tumour motion traces. The robotic motion system was evaluated in terms of the set-up and motion trace repeatability, static localization accuracy and dynamic localization accuracy. Four prostate, two liver and three lung motion traces, representing a range of tumor motion trajectories recorded in real patient treatments, were executed using the robotic motion system and compared with motion measurements from the clinical Calypso motion tracking system. System set-up and motion trace repeatability was better than 0.5 deg and 0.3 mm for rotation and translation, respectively. The static localization accuracy of the robotic motion system in the LR, SI and AP directions was 0.09 mm, 0.08 mm and 0.02 mm for translations, respectively, and 0.2°, 0.06° and 0.06° for rotations, respectively. The dynamic localization accuracy of the robotic motion system was  <0.2 mm and  <0.6° for translations and rotations, respectively. Thus, we have demonstrated the ability to accurately mimic rigid-body tumor motion using a robotically controlled phantom to provide precise geometric QA for advanced radiotherapy delivery approaches. (paper)