Use of an automated software module for monthly routine Machine QA tests

Abstract

The goal of this work is to investigate the feasibility of implementing an automated module of a commercial software for monthly routine Linac QA tests. The AAPM TG 142 report is a reference document which includes recommendations for general Quality Assurance (QA) tests for medical linear accelerators. DoseLab software includes an AutoQA module for users to run TG-142's Machine QA tests in an automated sequence. The execution of the individual monthly tests (without DoseLab) is compared with AutoQA in terms of time consuming, reproducibility, additional data and user friendliness. The total time required was 195 minutes for single test mode, without DoseLab, and 80 minutes for AutoQA. Auto QA allows the user to analyze more parameters than single-test mode, especially for kV and MV images. Different profiles in sizes and energies are examined in minor time. The Winston-Lutz test is more quickly and complete. CBCT QA test is less laborious and no user-dependent. Reproducibility of results is verified: the coefficient of variation over 5 consecutive repeated measurements is less than 5%. The software database makes it possible to monitor the trend of different parameters over time. AutoQA module significantly reduces the time spent for QA. It also allows to get more quantitative informations and delete the user-dependent uncertainties.