Accumulated dose implications from systematic dose-rate transients in gated treatments with Viewray MRIdian accelerators

The combination of magnetic resonance (MR) imaging and linear accelerators (linacs) into MR-Linacs enables continuous MR imaging and advanced gated treatments of patients. Previously, a dose-rate transient (& SIM;8% reduced dose rate during the initial 0.5 s of each beam) was identified for a Viewray MRIdian MR-Linac (Klavsen et al 2022 Radiation Measurement 106759). Here, the dose-rate transient is studied in more detail at four linacs of the same type at different hospitals. The implications of dose-rate transients were examined for gated treatments. The dose-rate transients were investigated using dose-per pulse measurements with organic plastic scintillators in three experiments: (i) A gated treatment with the scintillator placed in a moving target in a dynamic phantom, (ii) a gated treatment with the same dynamic conditions but with the scintillator placed in a stationary target, and (iii) measurements in a water-equivalent material to examine beam quality deviations at a dose-per-pulse basis. Gated treatments (i) compared with non-gated treatments with a static target in the same setup showed a broadening of accumulated dose profiles due to motion (dose smearing). The linac with the largest dose-rate transient had a reduced accumulated dose of up to (3.1 & PLUSMN; 0.65) % in the center of the PTV due to the combined dose smearing and dose-rate transient effect. Dose-rate transients were found to vary between different machines. Two MR-Linacs showed initial dose-rate transients that could not be identified from conventional linearity tests. The source of the transients includes an initial change in photon fluence rate and an initial change in x-ray beam quality. For gated treatments, this caused a reduction of more than 1% dose delivered at the central part of the beam for the studied, cyclic-motion treatment plan. Quality assurance of this effect should be considered when gated treatment with the Viewray MRIdian is implemented clinically.

Automated summary

The combination of magnetic resonance imaging and linear accelerators into MR-Linacs allows for continuous imaging and advanced treatments. This study investigated dose-rate transients in four MR-Linacs, finding that one machine had the largest dose-rate transient, resulting in a reduction of accumulated dose by approximately 3.1%. The transients were caused by initial changes in photon fluence rate and x-ray beam quality. Quality assurance for this effect should be considered in clinical implementation of gated treatments with the Viewray MRIdian.