A versatile program for the calculation of linear accelerator room shielding

Abstract

This work aims at designing a computer program to calculate the necessary amount of shielding for a given or proposed linear accelerator room design in radiotherapy. The program (Shield Calculation in Radiotherapy, SCR) has been developed using Microsoft Visual Basic. It applies the treatment room shielding calculations of NCRP report no. 151 to calculate proper shielding thicknesses for a given linear accelerator treatment room design. The program is composed of six main user-friendly interfaces. The first enables the user to upload their choice of treatment room design and to measure the distances required for shielding calculations. The second interface enables the user to calculate the primary barrier thickness in case of three-dimensional conventional radiotherapy (3D-CRT), intensity modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) and total body irradiation (TBI). The third interface calculates the required secondary barrier thickness due to both scattered and leakage radiation. The fourth and fifth interfaces provide a means to calculate the photon dose equivalent for low and high energy radiation, respectively, in door and maze areas. The sixth interface enables the user to calculate the skyshine radiation for photons and neutrons. The SCR program has been successfully validated, precisely reproducing all of the calculated examples presented in NCRP report no. 151 in a simple and fast manner. Moreover, it easily performed the same calculations for a test design that was also calculated manually, and produced the same results. The program includes a new and important feature that is the ability to calculate required treatment room thickness in case of IMRT and TBI. It is characterised by simplicity, precision, data saving, printing and retrieval, in addition to providing a means for uploading and testing any proposed treatment room shielding design. The SCR program provides comprehensive, simple, fast and accurate room shielding calculations in radiotherapy.

Ferramenta computacional para o cálculo da blindagem de salas de radioterapia de acordo com os critérios de aprovação da autoridade reguladora brasileira

“…O Excel foi utilizado como ferramenta de suporte para criar planilhas de cálculo, controlar informações, testar e comparar os resultados com o RadCAL. (NCRP, 1976;ICRP, 1982ICRP, , 1991IAEA, 2006), e trabalhos Brazilian Journal of Development, Curitiba, v.10, n.2, p. 01-14, 2024 publicados (HASSAN et al, 2018;DI PRINZIO & FACURE, 2014;BRAGA et al, 2020;CHARALAMPIA et al, 2023).…”

Brazilian regulatory authority contribution to the shielding dimensioning model of radiotherapy rooms proposed by the NCRP 151

“…These are computational simulations applying the Monte Carlo method, experimental measurements and the combination of these two set ups (Hernandez-Adame et al 2011, Rodrigues and Poli 2012, Beigi et al 2016, Mishra et al 2017, Rijken et al 2019. Different studies seek to develop improvements in the calculation protocol recommended by NCRP 151, thus implementing suggestions or facilitating the calculations to be performed through several formulas and tables (Ghiasi and Mesbahi 2012, Rezende et al 2014, Hassan et al 2018. Shielding properties of different materials and compositions were also evaluated by attenuation and energy transmission measurements (Kase et al 2003, Facure and Silva 2007, Frota et al 2008, Cordeiro and Silva 2012.…”