Dosimetric and QA aspects of Konrad inverse planning system for commissioning intensity-modulated radiation therapy

The intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) planning is performed using the Konrad inverse treatment planning system and the delivery of the treatment by using Siemens Oncor Impression Plus linear accelerator (step and shoot), which has been commissioned recently. The basic beam data required for commissioning the system were generated. The quality assurance of relative and absolute dose distribution was carried out before clinical implementation. The salient features of Konrad planning system, like dependence of grid size on dose volume histogram (DVH), number of intensity levels and step size in sequencer, are studied quantitatively and qualitatively. To verify whether the planned dose (from treatment planning system (TPS)) and delivered dose are the same, the absolute dose at a point is determined using CC01 ion chamber and the axial plane dose distribution is carried out using Kodak EDA2 in conjunction with OmniPro IMRT Phantom and OmniPro IMRT software from Scanditronix Wellhofer. To obtain the optimum combination in leaf sequencer module, parameters like number of intensity levels, step size are analyzed. The difference between pixel values of optimum fluence profile and the fluence profile obtained for various combinations of number of intensity levels and step size is compared and plotted. The calculations of the volume of any RT structure in the dose volume histogram are compared using grid sizes 3 mm and 4 mm. The measured and planned dose at a point showed good agreement (<3%) except for a few cases wherein the chamber was placed in a relatively high dose gradient region. The axial plane dose distribution using film dosimetry shows excellent agreement (correlation coefficient >0.97) in all the cases. In the leaf sequencer module, the combination of number of intensity level 7 with step size of 3 is the optimal solution for obtaining deliverable segments. The RT structure volume calculation is found to be more accurate with grid size of 3 mm for clinical use. Thus a study regarding various aspects of commissioning of the Konrad inverse planning system for IMRT has been presented, which has been implemented in our clinic. (author)