EPID based in vivo dosimetry system: clinical experience and results.

Mandatory in several countries, in vivo dosimetry has been recognized as one of the next milestones in radiation oncology. Our department has implemented clinically an EPID based in vivo dosimetry system, EPIgray, by DOSISOFT S.A., since 2006. An analysis of the measurements per linac and energy over a two-year period was performed, which included a more detailed examination per technique and treatment site over a six-month period. A comparison of the treatment planning system doses and the doses estimated by EPIgray shows a mean of the differences of 1.9% (±5.2%) for the two-year period. The 3D conformal treatment plans had a mean dose difference of 2.0% (±4.9%), while for intensity-modulated radiotherapy and volumetric-modulated arc therapy treatments the mean dose difference was -3.0 (±5.3%) and -2.5 (±5.2%), respectively. In addition, root cause analyses were conducted on the in vivo dosimetry measurements of two breast cancer treatment techniques, as well as prostate treatments with intensity-modulated radiotherapy and volumetric-modulated arc therapy. During the breast study, the dose differences of breast treatments in supine position were correlated to patient setup and EPID positioning errors. Based on these observations, an automatic image shift correction algorithm is developed by DOSIsoft S.A. The prostate study revealed that beams and arcs with out-of-tolerance in vivo dosimetry results tend to have more complex modulation and a lower exposure of the points of interest. The statistical studies indicate that in vivo dosimetry with EPIgray has been successfully implemented for classical and complex techniques in clinical routine at our institution. The additional breast and prostate studies exhibit the prospects of EPIgray as an easy supplementary quality assurance tool. The validation, the automatization, and the reduction of false-positive results represent an important step toward adaptive radiotherapy with EPIgray. PACS number(s): 87.53.Bn, 87.55.Qr, 87.56.Fc, 87.57.uq.