Imaging dose of human organs from KV-CBCT in image-guided radiation therapy

Abstract

This study investigates dose distribution due to kV cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) for the patients undergoing CBCT-based image-guided radiation therapy (IGRT). The kV-CBCT provides an efficient image-guidance tool for acquiring the latest volumetric image of a patient's anatomy, and has been being routinely used in clinics for an accurate treatment setup. Imaging radiation doses resulting from six different acquisition protocols of the on-board imager (OBI) were calculated using a Geant4 Application for Tomographic Emission (GATE) Monte Carlo simulation toolkit, and the absorbed doses by various organs were analyzed for the adult and pediatric numerical XCAT phantoms in this study. The calculated organ doses range from 0.1 to 24.1 mGy in the adult phantom, and from 0.1 to 36.8 mGy in the pediatric one. The imaging organ doses to the pediatric phantom turn out to be consistently higher than those to the adult phantom. It is believed that our results would provide reliable data to the clinicians for their making better decisions on CBCT scanning options and would also provide a platform for developing a new kV-CBCT scanning protocol in conjunction with a low-dose capability.