Abstract

Purpose:The Smart leaf motion calculator (SLMC) in Eclipse treatment planning system is an advanced fluence delivery modeling algorithm as it takes into account fine MLC features including inter‐leaf leakage, rounded leaf tips, non‐uniform leaf thickness, and the spindle cavity etc. In this study, SLMC and traditional Varian LMC (VLMC) algorithms were investigated, for the first time, in dosimetric characteristics and delivery accuracy of sliding window (SW) IMRT.Methods:The SW IMRT plans of 51 cancer cases were included to evaluate dosimetric characteristics and dose delivery accuracy from leaf motion calculated by SLMC and VLMC, respectively. All plans were delivered using a Varian TrueBeam Linac. The DVH and MUs of the plans were analyzed. Three patient specific QA tools – independent dose calculation software IMSure, Delta4 phantom, and EPID portal dosimetry were also used to measure the delivered dose distribution.Results:Significant differences in the MUs were observed between the two LMCs (p≤0.001).Gamma analysis shows an excellent agreement between the planned dose distribution calculated by both LMC algorithms and delivered dose distribution measured by three QA tools in all plans at 3%/3 mm, leading to a mean pass rate exceeding 97%. The mean fraction of pixels with gamma < 1 of SLMC is slightly lower than that of VLMC in the IMSure and Delta4 results, but higher in portal dosimetry (the highest spatial resolution), especially in complex cases such as nasopharynx.Conclusion:The study suggests that the two LMCs generates the similar target coverage and sparing patterns of critical structures. However, SLMC is modestly more accurate than VLMC in modeling advanced MLC features, which may lead to a more accurate dose delivery in SW IMRT. Current clinical QA tools might not be specific enough to differentiate the dosimetric discrepancies at the millimeter level calculated by these two LMC algorithms.NIH/NIGMS grant U54 GM104944, Lincy Endowed Assistant Professorship

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