An investigation on the internal wedge factor estimation for an Elekta linac using Monte Carlo simulation

Abstract

The wedge factor of the internal wedge of an an ELEKTA Linac was investigated for some wedge degrees for 6MV photon beam using Monte Carlo (MC) methods. The wedge factors were calculated by the MC simulation of 60 and 30 and wedge degrees with various dimensions of 4, 5, 10, 15 and 20cm2 and compared with relevant experimental measurements. The results indicated that our MC simulation can be regarded an accurate method for determining the wedge factor for all the wedge degrees. The MC method developed in this study has the potential for investigating the variation of medical linacs' wedge factor with the field size. © 2009 Springer-Verlag.