Optimization of the Eclipse TPS beam configuration parameters for small field dosimetry using Monte Carlo simulations and experimental measurements

To evaluate the impact of tuning the beam configurations parameters on the Analytical Anisotropic Algorithm (AAA) and the Acuros XB (AXB) algorithm for small fields using Monte Carlo simulations and measurements.The TrueBeam STx with the high-definition 120 multi-leaf collimator (HD120-MLC) was modeled with Geant4 application for emission tomography (GATE) Monte Carlo platform and validated against measurements. The impact of varying the effective spot size (ESS) and dosimetric leaf gap (DLG) on AAA and AXB calculations was carried out for small MLC-fields ranging from 0.5×0.5 cm2 to 3 × 3 cm2. Beam penumbras, field sizes and output factors calculated by AAA and AXB were compared to GATE calculations and measurements.The beam penumbra comparisons showed that the best ESS value for AXB was about 1.0 mm in the crossplane direction and 0.5 mm in the inplane direction. By optimizing the ESS values, AXB could provide output factor results almost within 2% of GATE calculations and measurements for fields down to 0.5×0.5 cm2. For AAA, significant output factor differences were observed for all ESS values and tuning the DLG in addition to the ESS optimization resulted in an absorbed dose difference of less than 2.5% for MLC-fields down to 1 × 1 cm2.By optimizing the ESS values, AXB can achieve accurate output factors in the case of small MLC-fields without the need of DLG tuning. Nevertheless, compromises between the output factor, DLG and ESS values were found necessary for AAA calculations. A MLC model improvement would allow to avoid the complexity related to tuning the configuration parameters.