SU‐E‐T‐195: Commissioning the Neutron Production of a Varian TrueBeam Linac

Abstract

Purpose:The purpose of this work is the characterization of a new Varian TrueBeam™ facility in terms of neutron production, in order to estimate neutron equivalent dose in organs during radiotherapy treatments.Methods:The existing methodology [1] was used with the reference SRAMnd detector, calibrated in terms of thermal neutron fluence at the reference field operated by PTB (Physikalisch‐Technische‐Bundesanstalt) at the GeNF (Geesthacht‐Neutron‐Facility) with the GKSS reactor FRG‐1 [2]. Thermal neutron fluence for the 5 available possibilities was evaluated: 15 MV and 10&6 MV with and without Flattening Filter (FF and FFF, respectively). Irradiation conditions are as described in [3]. In addition, three different collimator‐MLC configurations were studied for 15 MV: (a) collimator of 10×10 cm2 and MLC fully retracted (reference), (b) field sizes of 20×20 cm2 and 10×10 cm2 for collimator and MLC respectively, and (c) collimator and MLC aperture of 10×10 cm2.Results:Thermal fluence rate at the “reference point” [3], as a consequence of the neutron production, obtained for (a) conformation in 15 MV is (1.45±0.11) x10⁴ n•cm2/MU. Configurations (b) and (c) gave fluences of 96.6% and 97.8% of the reference (a). Neutron production decreases up to 8.6% and 5.7% for the 10 MV FF and FFF beams, respectively. Finally, it decreases up to 2.8% and 0.1% for the 6 MV FF and FFF modes, respectively.Conclusion:This work evaluates thermal neutron production of Varian TrueBeam™ system for organ equivalent dose estimation. The small difference in collimator‐MLC configuration shows the universality of the methodology [3]. A decrease in this production is shown when decreasing energy from 15 to 10 MV and an almost negligible production was found for 6 MV. Moreover, a lower neutron contribution is observed for the FFF modes.[1]Phys Med Biol,2012;57:6167–6191.[2]Radiat Meas,2010;45:1513–1517.[3]Med Phys,2015;42:276–281.