Assessment of mechanical accuracy of cobalt-60 teletherapy unit at SSDL, Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission

Abstract

As the rate of death due to cancer is increasing in the world, the world is paying much more attention to effective treatments for cancer. Teletherapy is a type of treatment that delivers radiation to cancer cells from a specific distance. The focus of this study is exclusively on Cobalt-60 teletherapy, which has recently been installed at the Secondary Standard Dosimetry Laboratory (SSDL) of the Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission to provide quality assurance and quality control services for all radiotherapy machines in Bangladesh. Our objective is to conduct a series of measurements that are necessary for the commissioning and acceptance of the installed Cobalt-60 machine (Equinox 100). The measurements include some mechanical parameters, including the accuracy of a variety of indicators and the size of the fields, before the measurement of dosimetry with two protocols, TRS-277 and TRS-398. We have found 0.16% deviation in the accuracy of optical indicator, 0.04% deviation in the accuracy of collimator angle indicator and 0.06% deviation in the accuracy of field sizes throughout the study. We have found no error in the accuracy of gantry indicator. In this work, the focus is primarily on the mechanical calibration to ensure that a dosimetry plan that is practical and accurate is being developed for the treatment of cancer patients. The output of this study may contribute to the development of treatment planning systems for cancer treatment.