A simple dose calculation method for total body photon irradiation

A simple technique for calculation of the prescribed dose for total body irradiation (TBI) is presented. The technique uses a standard calibration procedure and applies standard correction methods to account for variations in the field size, depth, and treatment distance. Since the scattering volume (the entire body) is smaller than the X ray field for this treatment, the change in output with field size is handled separately from changes due to scatter within the phantom. The latter is shown to be a function of the phantom size (corresponding to the frontal area of the trunk of the body for patient irradiation) rather than the size of the field opening. Dosimetric tests of this technique have been conducted and the errors determined. For these tests, three different phantom sizes were used to represent the upper body sizes of a 2-year old child, an 8-year old, and an adult, and three linear accelerator energies (6, 10, and 15 MV) were included. Calculations were performed using the technique and compared to measurements for the same phantom sizes. Differences of less than 1.3 were found.