QA Telecobalt (AERB) Protocol
QA Telecobalt (AERB) Protocol
1 Identification :
2.1 Interlocks :
2.1.1 Treatment room door
Provided? : Yes / No
Working? : Yes / No
3.1.1 Couch
3.1.1.1 Minimum couch level above floor : cm
3.1.1.2 Horizontal Motion : from cm to cm
3.1.1.3 Vertical Motion : from cm to cm
3.1.1.4 Lateral motion : From to cm
3.1.1.5 Rotational motion : from deg to deg
3.1.1.6 Couch locks :
Provided? : Yes / No
Working? : Yes / No
3.1.1.7 Shift in optical field due to vertical : (Tolerance: 2 mm)
motion from min. to max. position
3.1.2 Collimator
3.1.2.1 Rotational angle : from deg to deg
3.1.2.2 Field sizes available
Lower jaw : from cm to cm
Upper jaw : from cm to cm
3.1.2.3 Distance from isocentre : cm
3.1.2.4 Optical beam & collimator axis : mm.
Coincidence (Tolerance : < 1 mm)
3.1.2.5 Parallelism of the jaws
Lower jaw : deg
Upper jaw : (Tolerance: 1.0 deg)
3.1.2.6 Orthogonality of the adjacent jaws
3.1.2.7 Symmetry of jaws : (Tolerance : < 1mm)
3.1.2.8 Optical field overlap
0 and 180 : mm
90 and 270 : mm (Tolerance: 1.0 mm)
3.1.3 Gantry
3.1.3.1 RPM (.1 to 1) tests : (Tolerance : 1%)
3.1.3.2 Angular scale test : (Tolerance : 0.5 deg)
Set optical Measured optical field size (cmXcm) at Gantry Position Tolerance
Field size(cmXcm) 00 900 1800 2700
5x5 For F≤ 10x10,
10x10 ≤ 1.0mm
15x15
20x20
25x25 For F> 10x10,
30x30 ≤ 2.0mm
35x35
40x40
Place a paper packed therapy verification film with proper build-up thickness at treatment
distance. Set 10cmx10cm optical field on the film surface. Place angled lead wires at the
corners of the optical field and also on the lines defining the cross- wires (but outside the
field). Expose the film so as to get an optical density of nearly1. Develop and fix the
exposed film and measure the densities using a 1 mm hole densitometer. Plot left to right
and gantry to front density profiles. Read out 50% density widths from both plots to define
radiation field. Compare set optical and measured radiation fields for congruence.
Film used :
Exposure : R
Set Field : cm x cm
Radiation Field : (measured 50 % width in two orthogonal directions).
L to R : cm.
G to F : cm.
Tolerance: < 2 mm.
Shutter timer error can be evaluated by double exposure technique. Place the center of the
thimble chamber (with build-up cap) of the Secondary Standard Dosimeter (SSD) at the
normal treatment distance. Select a time t such that the meter of the SSD reads more than
2/3 of full scale. Give 5 exposures, each of time t, and calculate the average reading R1.
Next, give two consecutive exposures of (t/2) min. each and take the reading at the end of
time t(t/2 + t/2). Calculate average of five such readings. Let this be R2. Compute the
shutter timer error, Δt using the equation:
Δt =
S.No. 1 2 3 4 5 Ave. Δt
Sec.
R1
R2
4.2.2 Output calibration and determination of output factor (OF)
Output measurement shall be carried out in a liquid water phantom using an absorbed dose
to water calibrated secondary standard dosimeter. The phantom dimension should be
sufficient to provide at least 5 cm margin beyond all four sides for the largest field size
employed at the depth of measurement. The formalism and methodology of IAEA TRS 398
should be applied during the measurement and calculation.
Place the chamber with appropriate build-up cap at SSD+dm. Cm. Set the collimator jaws
to correspond to wedge field being used. Take five readings for this field and average
them. Let this be R1. Insert the wedge filter in its holder and take 5 readings under
identical conditions of irradiation. Let the average of these readings be R2. Then the
wedge factor is defined as :
WF =
Tolerance : < 20 mR/h when unit is loaded with maximum capacity source at 5 cm
Tolerance < 2 mR/h when unit is loaded with maximum capacity source at 1m
5.1.2. Source ‘ON’ condition
Measured exposure rate at 1m from the source with collimator jaws completely
blocked with appropriate lead thickness
Maximum :
Minimum :
Tolerance : < 0.1 % of RMM of the loaded source.
5.1.3 Collimator transmission
The collimator transmission is measured over a range of field sizes at a distance of 1
meter from the source. The collimator transmission measurement points must be chosen
outside of useful beam openings but not beyond the maximum definable field size.
900
1800
2700
CONSOLE
CENTER LINE OF THE UNIT
B
H
THE BEAM
CENTER LINE OF
G
DOOR
C
F
E D
Direct the primary beam with fully opened apertures towards primary walls, ceiling
and floor – if basement exists – and measure the shielding adequacy of the primary
barriers. Records your observations in the table below.
Positions 1 2 3 4 5 6 Ave
Primary
barrier 1
Primary
barrier 2
Above
ceiling
Below floor
5.3 Other observations
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
6.Accessories
6.1 Trimmers
Provided ? : Yes / No
Working ? : Yes / No
6.2 Breast cone
Provided ? : Yes / No
Working ? : Yes / No
6.3 Beam Shaping Tray
Provided ? : Yes / No
Working ? : Yes / No
Signature :
Name :
Designation:
Date :