L D Paniak | PubMed Health

PubMed2005

Enhanced bremsstrahlung spectrum reconstruction from depth-dose gradients.

We present a technique to significantly improve the accuracy of bremsstrahlung spectra reconstructed from central-axis depth-dose data using inverse methods. While typical approaches directly use the measured depth-dose data, we show the advantage of using the gradient of these data for reconstruction. The inverse problem in terms of gradients is shown to be markedly less ill-conditioned than the usual inverse problem. In each case, a regularization is introduced to alleviate the effects of noise due to measurement and computation. The error in taking derivatives of depth-dose data is demonstrated to be sufficiently controllable as not to overtake the improvements in the conditioning of the inverse problem in a pair of simulated examples.

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PubMed2004

Spectral sensitivity study of dose distributions for a commercial convolution/superposition algorithm.

The focus of this study is to validate whether the sensitivity of dose distribution following the interface of different media can be used to distinguish between small variations of photon energy spectra in the context of the convolution/superposition algorithm in the polyenergetic implementation (Philips Pinnacle3, ADAC Laboratories, Milpitas, CA). Calculations were performed in homogeneous water and heterogeneous lung/water phantoms. Spectra were generated, in which the weights of the low-, medium- and high-energy components were adjusted sequentially. The heterogeneity correction factor CFlung, the D20/D10 ratio for homogeneous water and logarithmic derivative in buildup region LDbuildup were assessed for their relative ability to discriminate between different spectra for various field sizes. In accordance with another study (Charland et al 2004), the superior discrimination ability of the CFlung and LDbuildup tests over the D20/D10 test was observed for changes in an energy component as small as 0.3% of the total weight in the energy spectrum. Furthermore, new tests utilizing transverse dose profile data for discriminating between spectra, Fringe Index (FI) and Penumbra Index (PI), were introduced. The discrimination ability of the PI and FI tests was superior when a medium containing interface effects was exploited to obtain the transverse profile data (water/lung phantom for PIhung and FIlung tests) as opposed to when a homogeneous water medium was used (PIwater and FIwater tests).

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