A radioterapia externa pós-operatória em mulheres diagnosticadas com câncer de mama em estágio inicial é tido como um procedimento padrão, no entanto durante o planejamento para irradiação do volume alvo as possíveis incertezas dosimétricas introduzidas dado o movimento respiratório intrínseco da paciente são desconsideradas. Este estudo avalia não apenas a influência da respiração na distribuição tridimensional da dose, mas como essa distribuição se modifica dado a técnica radioterápica empregada para o tratamento. Três técnicas de planejamento foram analisadas: a radioterapia conformacional tridimensional (3D-RT) com filtros, a radioterapia com intensidade modulada (IMRT) usando planejamento direto e o IMRT inverso. A fim de simular o movimento de contração e expansão da caixa torácica, utilizou-se uma plataforma com amplitudes de oscilação pré-determinadas, sendo a frequência de oscilação provida por uma fonte de tensão variável. Para simular a mama usou-se objetos simuladores semiesféricos preenchidos com gel dosimétrico (MAGIC-f). Os planejamentos para cada técnica foram realizados sobre a mesma tomografia computadorizada (CT) do objeto simulador preenchido com água no modo estático. Foram produzidos três lotes de dosímetro gel para o projeto, cada lote foi irradiado com uma técnica radioterápica diferente, sendo que cada lote inclui cinco objetos simuladores e um conjunto de nove tubos de calibração preenchidos com gel MAGIC-f. O primeiro dos objetos simuladores é utilizado como referência, o segundo é irradiado no modo estático, os demais são irradiados em diferentes amplitudes, respectivamente: 0,34 cm, 0,88 cm e 1,22 cm. A informação volumétrica de dose foi obtida utilizando imagens por ressonância magnética nuclear (IRMN), para cada lote foram adquiridos IRMN com sequência multi spin echo e os mapas de relaxometria, que são associados à dose, foram extraídos em um software desenvolvido e aprimorado pelo nosso grupo de pesquisa. A comparação quantitativa dos mapas de relaxometria dos objetos simuladores em movimento em relação ao modo estático foi realizado pelo índice gamma tridimensional (3% / 3mm / 15% Threshold). Para o 3D-RT a porcentagem de pontos aprovados do objeto estático em relação ao oscilante na amplitude de 0,34 cm foi de 96,44%, para amplitude de 0,88 cm foi de 93,23% e para amplitude de 1,22 cm foi de 91,65%. Para o IMRT direto a porcentagem de pontos aprovados do objeto estático em relação ao oscilante na amplitude de 0,34 cm foi de 98,42%, para amplitude de 0,88 cm foi de 95,66% e para amplitude de 1,22 cm foi de 94,31%. Para o IMRT inverso a porcentagem de pontos aprovados do objeto estático em relação ao oscilante na amplitude de 0,34 cm foi de 94,49%, para amplitude de 0,88 cm foi de 93,51% e para amplitude de 1,22 cm foi de 86,62%. A partir dos resultados, infere-se que a movimentação respiratória de baixa amplitude, para tratamentos de câncer de mama, não é um fator preocupante para a rotina clínica, porém o aumento da amplitude da oscilação aumenta a inomogeneidade de dose e pode afetar os parâmetros dosimétricos da cobertura do volume alvo em relação ao planejamento do tratamento. Observou-se em conjunto que a distribuição de dose se modifica claramente com a técnica em uso e no caso do IMRT inverso para amplitude de oscilação de 1,22 cm a aprovação no índice gamma foi menor que 90% / External postoperative radiotherapy in women diagnosed with early stage breast cancer is considered as a standard procedure, however during planning for target volume irradiation as possible dosimetric uncertainties reabsorption of the patient\'s intrinsic respiratory movement are disregarded. This study evaluates not only the influence of respiration on the three-dimensional distribution of the dose but how this distribution is modified due to the radiotherapy technique used for treatment. Three planning techniques were analyzed: three-dimensional conformational radiotherapy (3D-RT) with filters, intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) using direct planning and inverse IMRT. In order to simulate the movement of contraction and expansion of the chest wall, a platform with predetermined oscillation amplitudes was used, the oscillation frequency was provided by a variable voltage source. To simulate the breast, semi-spherical simulator objects filled with dosimetric gel (MAGIC-f) were used. The plannnings for each technique were performed on the computerized tomography (CT) of the simulator object filled with water in static mode. Three batches of gel dosimeters were prepared for the project, each batch was irradiated with a different radiothermic technique and comprised five simulator objects and a set of nine calibration tubes filled with MAGIC-f gel. The first simulator objects is used as reference, the second is irradiated in the static mode, the others are irradiated using different amplitudes, respectively: 0,34 cm, 0,88 cm and 1,22 cm. Volumetric dose information was obtained using Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Imaging, each batch was scanned with a multi spin echo sequence and the dose-related relaxometry maps were extracted in a software developed and improved by our Group of research. The quantitative comparison of the relaxometry maps of the moving simulator objects with respect to the static mode was performed by the three-dimensional gamma index (3% / 3mm / 15% threshold). For the 3D-RT, the percentage of approved points of the static object with respect to the oscillator in the amplitude of 0.34 cm was 96.44%, for amplitude of 0.88 cm was 93.23% and for amplitude of 1.22 cm was 91.65%. For the direct IMRT the percentage of approved points of the static object in relation to the oscillator in the amplitude of 0.34 cm was 98.42%, for amplitude of 0.88 cm was 95.66% and for amplitude of 1.22 cm was 94.31%. For the inverse IMRT, the percentage of approved points of the static object in relation to the oscillator in the amplitude of 0.34 cm was 94.49%, for amplitude of 0.88 cm was 93.51% and for amplitude of 1.22 cm was 86.62%. From the results, it is inferred that a low-amplitude respiratory movement, for breast cancer treatments, is not a worrying factor for clinical routine, however, increasing the amplitude of the oscillation increases the inomogeneity of the dose and this affects the dosimetry parameters of the target volume coverage. It was observed that the dose distribution changes with the technique in use and in the case of the inverse IMRT for amplitude of oscillation of 1.22 cm, less than 90% of points were approved in the gamma index evaluation

Cobalt-60 (Co-60) units played an integral role in radiation therapy from the mid-1950s to the 1970s. Although they continue to be used to treat cancer in some parts of the world, their role has been significantly reduced due to the invention of medical linear accelerators. A number of groups have indicated a strong potential for Co-60 units in modern radiation therapy. The Medical Physics group at the Cancer Center of the Southeastern Ontario and Queen’s University has shown the feasibility of Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy (IMRT) via simple conformal treatment planning and dose delivery using a Co-60 unit. In this thesis, initial Co-60 tomotherapy planning investigations on simple uniform phantoms are extended to actual clinical cases based on patient CT data. The planning is based on radiation dose data from a clinical Co-60 unit fitted with a multileaf collimator (MLC) and modeled in the EGSnrc Monte Carlo system. An in house treatment planning program is used to calculate IMRT dose distributions. Conformal delivery in a single slice on a uniform phantom based on sequentially delivered pencil beams is verified by Gafchromic film. Volumetric dose distributions for Co-60 serial tomotherapy are then generated for typical clinical sites that had been treated at our clinic by conventional 6MV IMRT using Varian Eclipse treatment plans. The Co-60 treatment plans are compared with the clinical IMRT plans using conventional matrices such as dose volume histograms (DVH). Dose delivery based on simultaneously opened MLC leaves is also explored and a novel MLC segmentation method is proposed. In order to increase efficiency of dose calculations, a novel convolution based fluence model for treatment planning is also proposed. The ion chamber measurements showed that the Monte Carlo modeling of the beam data under the MIMiC MLC is accurate. The film measurements from the uniform phantom irradiations confirm that IMRT plans from our in-house treatment planning system are deliverable. Comparing the Co-60 dose distributions and DVHs to the IMRT plans from the clinic indicates that Co-60 is able to provide similar dose conformality to targets and dose sparing to critical organs. The results of the novel MLC segmentation algorithm and the photon fluence model proposed in this work compared well with the Monte Carlo calculations. In summary, the investigations presented in this thesis confirm that Co-60 tomotherapy is indeed capable of providing state-of-the-art conformal dose delivery. We have shown that the perceived beam limitations often identified with Co 60 (e.g., lower penetration, source size artifacts under small field collimation, and larger penumbra) are negligible when using intensity modulated techniques. / Thesis (Ph.D, Physics, Engineering Physics and Astronomy) -- Queen's University, 2013-08-22 11:34:14.861

Cobalt-60 (Co-60) units played an integral role in radiation therapy from the mid-1950s to the 1970s. Although they continue to be used to treat cancer in some parts of the world, their role has been significantly reduced due to the invention of medical linear accelerators. A number of groups have indicated a strong potential for Co-60 units in modern radiation therapy. The Medical Physics group at the Cancer Center of the Southeastern Ontario and Queen’s University has shown the feasibility of Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy (IMRT) via simple conformal treatment planning and dose delivery using a Co-60 unit. In this thesis, initial Co-60 tomotherapy planning investigations on simple uniform phantoms are extended to actual clinical cases based on patient CT data. The planning is based on radiation dose data from a clinical Co-60 unit fitted with a multileaf collimator (MLC) and modeled in the EGSnrc Monte Carlo system. An in house treatment planning program is used to calculate IMRT dose distributions. Conformal delivery in a single slice on a uniform phantom based on sequentially delivered pencil beams is verified by Gafchromic film. Volumetric dose distributions for Co-60 serial tomotherapy are then generated for typical clinical sites that had been treated at our clinic by conventional 6MV IMRT using Varian Eclipse treatment plans. The Co-60 treatment plans are compared with the clinical IMRT plans using conventional matrices such as dose volume histograms (DVH). Dose delivery based on simultaneously opened MLC leaves is also explored and a novel MLC segmentation method is proposed. In order to increase efficiency of dose calculations, a novel convolution based fluence model for treatment planning is also proposed. The ion chamber measurements showed that the Monte Carlo modeling of the beam data under the MIMiC MLC is accurate. The film measurements from the uniform phantom irradiations confirm that IMRT plans from our in-house treatment planning system are deliverable. Comparing the Co-60 dose distributions and DVHs to the IMRT plans from the clinic indicates that Co-60 is able to provide similar dose conformality to targets and dose sparing to critical organs. The results of the novel MLC segmentation algorithm and the photon fluence model proposed in this work compared well with the Monte Carlo calculations. In summary, the investigations presented in this thesis confirm that Co-60 tomotherapy is indeed capable of providing state-of-the-art conformal dose delivery. We have shown that the perceived beam limitations often identified with Co 60 (e.g., lower penetration, source size artifacts under small field collimation, and larger penumbra) are negligible when using intensity modulated techniques. / Thesis (Ph.D, Physics, Engineering Physics and Astronomy) -- Queen's University, 2013-08-22 11:34:14.861

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide. Radiotherapy is one of the main treatment modalities of lung cancer. However, the achievable accuracy of radiotherapy treatment is limited for lung-based tumors due to respiratory motion. Four-dimensional radiotherapy explicitly accounts for anatomic motion by characterizing the motion, creating a treatment plan that accounts for this motion, and delivering this plan to the moving anatomy. This thesis focuses on the current problems and solutions throughout the course of four-dimensional radiotherapy. For characterization of respiratory-induced motion, patient tumor motion data were analyzed. It is shown that tumor motion can be significant during radiotherapy treatment, and its extent, direction, and linearity vary considerably between patients, between treatment fractions, and between respiratory cycles. After this, approaches to four-dimensional intensity-modulated radiation therapy treatment planning were developed and investigated. Among the techniques to manage respiratory motion, tumor tracking using a dynamic multileaf collimator delivery technique was chosen as a promising method. A formalism to solve a general four-dimensional intensity-modulated radiation therapy treatment-planning problem was developed. Specific solutions to this problem accounting for tumor motion initially in one dimension and extending this to three dimensions were developed and investigated using four-dimensional computed tomography planning scans of lung cancer patients. For four-dimensional radiotherapy treatment delivery, accuracy of two-dimensional projection imaging methods was investigated. Geometric uncertainty due to the limitation of two-dimensional imaging in monitoring three-dimensional tumor motion during treatment delivery was quantified. This geometric uncertainty can be used to estimate proper margins when a single two-dimensional projection imager is used for four-dimensional treatment delivery. Lastly, tumor-tracking delivery using a moving average algorithm was investigated as an alternative delivery technique that reduces mechanical motion constraints of a multileaf collimator. Moving average tracking provides an approximate solution that can be immediately implemented for delivery of four-dimensional intensity-modulated radiation therapy treatment. The clinical implementation of four-dimensional guidance, intensity-modulated radiation therapy treatment planning, and dynamic multileaf collimator tracking delivery may have a positive impact on the treatment of lung cancer.

Les progrès en imagerie fonctionnelle ouvrent de nouvelles perspectives dans la délimitation des volumes cibles en radiothérapie. Il est envisagé d’adapter les doses d’irradiation sur l’activité tumorale et de réaliser une escalade de dose. Nos objectifs étaient caractériser la détectabilité en TEP, en quantifiant les incertitudes de contour du GTV, de mettre en place la géométrie appropriée, d’évaluer l’impact dosimétrique de ce nouveau protocole et de vérifier la bonne délivrance de cette irradiation. 3 fantômes originaux et 2 fantômes virtuels avec les 3 niveaux de dose recherchés ont été spécialement conçus. Le diamètre de 1cm pour le niveau 3 a pu être atteint. Une escalade de 20Gy a été possible. L’impact dosimétrique sur deux cas réels était satisfaisant. Les tolérances cliniques ont été respectées. Toute la chaîne de traitement a été évaluée et validée. Cependant de telles doses doivent être évaluées avec précaution avant d’être prescrites et des progrès sont attendus en imagerie / The progress in functional imaging opens new perspectives in the delineation of target volumes in radiotherapy. We can intend to adapt the irradiation doses on the tumor activity and to perform a dose escalation. Our objectives were (i) to characterize the TEP thresholding, by quantifying the uncertainties of the target volume contour, (ii) to set up the geometry suited, (iii) to estimate the dosimetric impact of this new protocol and (iv) to verify that dosimetry is perfectly distributed. 3 original phantoms and 2 virtual phantoms containing 3 dose levels were specially created. The diameter of 1cm for the 3rd level was able to be reached. A dose escalation of 20Gy was possible. The dosimetric impact on two real cases was suitable. The clinical tolerances were respected. So all the treatment process was estimated and validated. However such doses should be carefully estimated before being prescribed clinically and progress is also expected in imaging

La Radiothérapie Conformationnelle par Modulation d’Intensité (RCMI) est aujourd’hui reconnue comme une technique de référence permettant d’augmenter le contrôle local de la tumeur tout en réduisant la dose reçue par les organes à risques avoisinants. Cependant, son développement est freiné par l’étape de préparation du traitement du patient qui nécessite une charge de travail considérable. Dans le but d’augmenter l’efficience de la mise en œuvre d’un traitement, deux axes de travail ont été déterminés. Le premier axe concernait l’optimisation automatique des incidences des faisceaux. Nous avons pour cela mis en œuvre un algorithme (le simplexe) qui a été intégré dans le système de planification de traitement. Il permet, à partir des objectifs dosimétriques fixés par l’utilisateur, de déterminer automatiquement les incidences de faisceaux optimales : irradiant suffisamment le volume cible tout en épargnant les organes à risques avoisinants. En plus d’un gain en temps, les résultats du simplexe ont montré – sur trois patients atteints d’un cancer de l’oropharynx – un gain en qualité par rapport à une sélection manuelle des faisceaux. En effet, pour une couverture du volume cible équivalente voire meilleure, il permet de réduire la dose reçue par les organes à risques. Le second axe concernait l’optimisation des contrôles pré-traitement. Nous avons pour cela utilisé une méthode industrielle : la Maîtrise Statistique des Processus (MSP) afin d’analyser rétrospectivement les résultats des contrôles de la dose absolue effectués avec la chambre d’ionisation au Centre Alexis Vautrin (CAV). Cette étude a montré l’intérêt de la MSP pour renforcer la sécurité des traitements grâce à la mise en place de cartes de contrôle. Elle a également montré que notre processus de délivrance de la dose était stable et statistiquement capable pour les traitements de la prostate, ce qui implique qu’une réduction du nombre de contrôles peut être envisagée pour ce type de traitement au CAV / Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy (IMRT) is currently considered as a technique of choice to increase the local control of the tumour while reducing the dose to surrounding organs at risk. However, its routine clinical implementation is partially held back by the excessive amount of work required to prepare the patient treatment. In order to increase the efficiency of the treatment preparation, two axes of work have been defined. The first axis concerned the automatic optimisation of beam orientations. We integrated the simplex algorithm in the treatment planning system. Starting from the dosimetric objectives set by the user, it can automatically determine the optimal beam orientations that best cover the target volume while sparing organs at risk. In addition to time sparing, the simplex results of three patients with a cancer of the oropharynx, showed that the quality of the plan is also increased compared to a manual beam selection. Indeed, for an equivalent or even a better target coverage, it reduces the dose received by the organs at risk. The second axis of work concerned the optimisation of pre-treatment quality control. We used an industrial method: Statistical Process Control (SPC) to retrospectively analyse the absolute dose quality control results performed using an ionisation chamber at Centre Alexis Vautrin (CAV). This study showed that SPC is an efficient method to reinforce treatment security using control charts. It also showed that our dose delivery process was stable and statistically capable for prostate treatments, which implies that a reduction of the number of controls can be considered for this type of treatment at the CAV

A radioterapia de feixe de intensidade modulada (IMRT) no seu modo dinâmico é uma forma de radioterapia tri-dimensional (3D), na qual modula-se um feixe de forma a obter-se a irradiação com campos que possuem perfil variável. Os campos são gerados por um sistema de otimização matemático e transformado em seqüências de movimento ou abertura de lâminas dos colimadores terciários de múltiplas folhas (MLC) ou feixe colimado helicoidal, reproduzindo a fluência de radiação adequada. No processo o operador atribui valores limitantes de dose ao alvo e aos órgãos de risco circunvizinhos para que o sistema de planejamento inverso realize a otimização possível. Após a aprovação do plano de tratamento o mesmo deve ser conferido, através de um controle de qualidade (CQ), onde são verificadas as doses que deverão ser administradas ao paciente, comprovando-se as doses obtidas e aprovadas no plano do sistema de planejamento (SPC). Para este controle os mesmos feixes e campos são medidos em termos de dose absorvida e perfis, através de dosimetria na qual comprova-se que não há erro físico ou dosimétrico no plano que irá tratar o paciente com diferença aceitável de até 5%, também utilizada como tolerância para a aprovação dos 460 casos avaliados nesta tese. Foram apresentados as metodologias para a aceitação no primeiro serviço a utilizá-la no Brasil e os testes de controle de qualidade de dois serviços de radioterapia, desde agosto de 2001 à maio de 2006 e no outro serviço de outubro de 2007 a maio de 2008, com controle de qualidade que permitiram os respectivos tratamentos clínicos com dados de 4 anos, ou seja, 460 casos com 3935 campos de tratamento verificados individualmente por dosimetria. Isto possibilitou o aperfeiçoamento da metodologia e garantia da qualidade nos tratamentos de IMRT dinâmico destes pacientes. / The intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) is a type of radiation therapy using dynamic sliding window which modulated the beamlets of each field which are thus obtained as a variable profile. The multiple fields are obtained by mathematic optimization in special treatment planning system. In this way, the resulted field is generated by leaf sequencing using the multi-leaf collimator (MLC) or helicoidally beam. The optimization is an interactive process with operator and planning system where the dose prescription to target and dose limit for organ of risk are inserted to obtain the acceptable beam fluence and this process is named as inverse planning. The planning approved by physician should checked by means of dosimetry in order to assure the correct dose delivery; this action is the main task of a quality control (QC) program. The QC is performed by measurements of total absorbed dose and profile for each field planned for the patient. The acceptance level is 5% for total dose and was used for all 460 cases and 3935 fields analyzed between August 2001 to May 2006 at Albert Einstein Hospital and October 2007 to May 2008 at the Centro Infantil Dr. Boldrini. This work performs an analysis of the QC of treatments plans for all patients treated with IMRT. During four years the methodologies were frequently improved and upgradated for each tumor site and could thus be assured for the required quality of all treatments with dynamic IMRT.

A radioterapia com intensidade modulada de feixe (IMRT) possibilitou a realização de tratamentos de múltiplos alvos simultaneamente em um esquema de tratamento acelerado conhecido como SMART (Simultaneous Modulated Accelerated Radiation Therapy). Estes tratamentos requerem um rigoroso controle de qualidade (QA) que deveria ser realizado, idealmente, em três dimensões. Uma potencial ferramenta para dosimetria tridimensional (3D) é o uso de gel polimérico associado à leitura de doses com Imagens de Ressonância Magnética Nuclear (IRMN). Neste trabalho, a dosimetria 3D com o gel MAGIC-f foi aplicada no CQ de 10 planejamentos radioterápicos usando a técnica SMART. Inicialmente, as distribuições de dose dos planejamentos avaliados foram recalculadas na geometria do simulador baseadas em sua tomogra_a computadorizada. Todos os planejamentos utilizados foram aprovados previamente no QA convencional pontual e planar, o que validou a distribuição de dose do sistema de planejamento (TPS) para comparação com a dosimetria gel. Os simuladores foram irradiados com os planejamentos estabelecidos e as distribuições de dose foram obtidas através da relaxometria em IRMN. A comparação das distribuições de dose calculadas pelo TPS e as medidas no gel foi feita pela análise gama (3%/3mm) e pela comparação entre os histogramas dose-volume (DVHs) calculados e medidos para dois volumes criados nas regiões equivalentes aos volumes alvo de tratamento. Esses resultados evidenciam o potencial do uso da dosimetria gel polimérica no QA 3D de planejamentos de IMRT com a técnica SMART, fornecendo informação completa 3D da dose absorvida em cada volume alvo planejado, desde que realizada seguindo os protocolos pré-estabelecidos. / Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy (IMRT) treatments in the radiotherapy practice made possible the simultaneously treatment of multiple targets at an accelerated treatment regimen, this scheme is known as Simultaneous Modulated Accelerated Radiation Therapy (SMART). These treatments require a strict quality control (QC) that should be done, ideally, in three dimensions. A potential tool for tridimensional dosimetry (3D) is the use of polymeric gel with Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Images (NMRI). In this paper, the 3D dosimetry with MAGIC-f gel was applied in 10 QC radiotherapy planning using the SMART technique. Initially, the dose distributions of assessed plans were remeasured in simulator geometry based on a CT scan. All plans used were previously approved in punctual and planar conventional CQ, which validated the dose distribution planning system (TPS) for comparison with the gel dosimetry. The simulators were irradiated with established schedules and dose distributions were obtained by relaxometry in NMRI. The comparison of dose distributions calculated by TPS and measured in the gel was made by gamma analysis (3% / 3mm) and by comparing the dose-volume histograms (DVHs) calculated and measured for two volumes created in the equivalent regions to target volumes of treatment. These results highlight the potential use of the polymer gel dosimetry in IMRT planning 3D CQ with SMART technique, providing complete 3D information of the absorbed dose in each target volume planned, if carried out following the pre-established protocols.

A radioterapia de feixe de intensidade modulada (IMRT) no seu modo dinâmico é uma forma de radioterapia tri-dimensional (3D), na qual modula-se um feixe de forma a obter-se a irradiação com campos que possuem perfil variável. Os campos são gerados por um sistema de otimização matemático e transformado em seqüências de movimento ou abertura de lâminas dos colimadores terciários de múltiplas folhas (MLC) ou feixe colimado helicoidal, reproduzindo a fluência de radiação adequada. No processo o operador atribui valores limitantes de dose ao alvo e aos órgãos de risco circunvizinhos para que o sistema de planejamento inverso realize a otimização possível. Após a aprovação do plano de tratamento o mesmo deve ser conferido, através de um controle de qualidade (CQ), onde são verificadas as doses que deverão ser administradas ao paciente, comprovando-se as doses obtidas e aprovadas no plano do sistema de planejamento (SPC). Para este controle os mesmos feixes e campos são medidos em termos de dose absorvida e perfis, através de dosimetria na qual comprova-se que não há erro físico ou dosimétrico no plano que irá tratar o paciente com diferença aceitável de até 5%, também utilizada como tolerância para a aprovação dos 460 casos avaliados nesta tese. Foram apresentados as metodologias para a aceitação no primeiro serviço a utilizá-la no Brasil e os testes de controle de qualidade de dois serviços de radioterapia, desde agosto de 2001 à maio de 2006 e no outro serviço de outubro de 2007 a maio de 2008, com controle de qualidade que permitiram os respectivos tratamentos clínicos com dados de 4 anos, ou seja, 460 casos com 3935 campos de tratamento verificados individualmente por dosimetria. Isto possibilitou o aperfeiçoamento da metodologia e garantia da qualidade nos tratamentos de IMRT dinâmico destes pacientes. / The intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) is a type of radiation therapy using dynamic sliding window which modulated the beamlets of each field which are thus obtained as a variable profile. The multiple fields are obtained by mathematic optimization in special treatment planning system. In this way, the resulted field is generated by leaf sequencing using the multi-leaf collimator (MLC) or helicoidally beam. The optimization is an interactive process with operator and planning system where the dose prescription to target and dose limit for organ of risk are inserted to obtain the acceptable beam fluence and this process is named as inverse planning. The planning approved by physician should checked by means of dosimetry in order to assure the correct dose delivery; this action is the main task of a quality control (QC) program. The QC is performed by measurements of total absorbed dose and profile for each field planned for the patient. The acceptance level is 5% for total dose and was used for all 460 cases and 3935 fields analyzed between August 2001 to May 2006 at Albert Einstein Hospital and October 2007 to May 2008 at the Centro Infantil Dr. Boldrini. This work performs an analysis of the QC of treatments plans for all patients treated with IMRT. During four years the methodologies were frequently improved and upgradated for each tumor site and could thus be assured for the required quality of all treatments with dynamic IMRT.

<p>A commercially available amorphous silicon electronic portal imaging device (EPID) was studied with regard to its dosimetric properties and to determine its usefulness as a tool for dosimetric pre-treatment verification of radiotherapy treatment fields. The dosimetric properties that were studied include reproducibility over time, linearity with dose, dose rate dependence and ghosting effects. The pre-treatment verification is performed by acquiring dosimetric images with the EPID and comparing these images with predicted images, calculated by the treatment planning system. This method for verification was evaluated. Also, the calibration and configuration of the treatment planning system and of the EPID for dosimetric verification was performed and is presented here.</p><p>The dosimetric properties of the EPID were found to be suitable for the measurements for which it is intended. It is linear with dose and does not show significant dose rate dependence or ghosting effects. As a pre-treatment verification system it is accurate within 3% and 3mm for ~99% of a region around the irradiated area of the image.</p>