Total effective patient dose estimates for various verification designs in radiotherapy

Verification using kilovoltage or megavoltage imaging helps improve the patient setup procedure but, on the other hand, increases the radiation burden. In this work, the total effective dose was estimated for clinical imaging scenarios using kV cone-beam CT (CBCT) scans, orthogonal kV image projections, and orthogonal MV image projections for pelvis and head treatment sites. On-Board Imager and X-ray Volume Imaging systems were used for the kV imaging. The particular imaging scenarios were obtained from questionnaires sent by the National Radiation Protection Institute to radiotherapy departments in the Czech Republic . The effective doses per scan or pair of orthogonal image projections were calculated from organ doses measured in an Rando anthropomorphic phantom by means of thermoluminescent dosimeters. The calculations were based on ICRP 60 and ICRP 103 recommendations