Dose non-linearity of the dosimetry system and possible monitor unit errors on medical linear accelerators used in conventional and intensity-modulated radiation therapy

The purpose of this work is to study dose non-linearity in medical linear accelerators used in conventional radiotherapy and intensity-modulated radiation therapy. Open fields, as well as the enhanced dynamic wedge ones, were used to collect data for 6 MV and 15 MV photon beams obtained from the VARIAN linear accelerator. Beam stability was checked and confirmed for different dose rates, energies, and application of enhanced dynamic wedge by calculating the charge per monitor unit. Monitor unit error was calculated by the two-exposure method for open and enhanced dynamic wedge beams of 6 MV and 15 MV photons. A significant monitor unit error with maximum values of ±2.05931 monitor unit and ±2.44787 monitor unit for open and enhanced dynamic wedge beams, respectively, both energy and dose rate dependent, was observed both in the open photon beam and enhanced dynamic wedge fields. However, it exhibited certain irregular patterns at enhanced dynamic wedge angles. Dose monitor unit error exists only because of the overshoot phenomena and electronic delay in dose coincident and integrated circuits with a dependency on the dose rate and photon energy. Monitor unit errors are independent of the application of enhanced dynamic wedge. The existence of monitor unit error demands that the dose non-linearity of the linear accelerator dosimetry system be periodically tested, so as to avoid significant dosimetric errors.