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Manual Calculation - Pencil Beam

Contact Information Manual Calculation Pencil Beam

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Revision History Revision XiO_TRN_PENCIL_MANCALC_B Date 04/17/2007 Changes Update template and logo; add revision history

Copyright 2007 by CMS, Inc. All rights reserved. Performance characteristics given in this manual are for reference only and are not intended as guaranteed specifications.

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Document Name: XiO_TRN_PENCIL_MANCALC_B.pdf

Table of Contents
Manual Calculation ............................................1
Treatment Plan Setup ............................................................... 1 Compute the fan and depth spacing.............................................. 2 Determine the off-axis factor due to scatter occurring above the cone for all points contributing dose to the calculation point ......................... 3
Calculate the MCS value at depth z....................................................... 3 Calculate the air value at depth z........................................................ 8 Convolve the initial pencil distribution with air to find the air factor at the calculation point and hence at points contributing dose to the calculation point 9

Determine the central-axis term due to both scatter occurring above the cone and scatter in the medium for all points contributing dose ......... 14
Calculate the air value at depth z.......................................................14 Deconvolve the electron component of the measured PDD data given a smearing function equal to H2O to find the central-axis term at the points contributing dose to the calculation point....................................................................15 Calculate the sigma-water value at depth z ...........................................16

Determine the dose contributions from all points lying within 3.4 times sigma-water of the calculation point............................................ 19 Calculate the final dose at the calculation point ............................. 20

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Table of Contents Manual Calculation Pencil Beam

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Manual Calculation
By manually carrying out all the steps involved in computing the dose at a point according to the electron pencil beam algorithm, a greater understanding of the limitations of the algorithm, and also a better intuition about the role of various parameters can be achieved. In general, the manual computation of dose at any given point using the pencil beam algorithm is prohibitively labor-intensive. However, by choosing a beam of high enough energy and a point at a shallow enough depth, the sigma-theta-x and MCS values can be small enough that the number of terms that must be calculated is reasonable. This section describes a sample calculation of the total dose at a point. The values of all terms are either calculated explicitly, derived from symmetry arguments where it can be proven that the values are exactly equal to those already explicitly calculated, or determined precisely through analysis. This means that approximations are not used in the manual calculation; the calculations are carried out according to the same criteria employed in the software.

Treatment Plan Setup

The point at which the dose will be calculated is the point at (0,0,1.2cm), this being a point on the central axis at a depth of 1.2 cm below the water surface. The plan used for this calculation has plan ID manualcalc2, which is stored for the patient ID tutpatient2 in the clinic ID XiO demoonly data. The PDD data values are those stored for the machine electron2. The physics data (angular scattering powers, angular scattering power ratios, and specific stopping power ratios), are the values supplied for electron machines in the clinic XiO Demo-only data. The following data will be used in the calculation: Energy: Cone size: Machine Reference Distance: Source-to-Cone Distance: dmax: Depth of Weight Point: Sigma-theta-x: 20.00 MeV 6x6cm 100cm 95cm 2.1cm 1.2cm 0.022

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FMCS: NOTE:

1.75

All distance units in the calculation are expressed in millimeters.

Compute the fan and depth spacing

1. Calculate the practical range, Rp:
R p (mm) = 5.21 * T o - 3.76
mm = 5.21 MeV * 20.00MeV - 3.76mm

= 100.44mm

2. Calculate the depth spacing in the calculation grid, z: First, calculate the desired depth spacing based on the practical range (a smaller spacing is used for smaller energies and hence practical ranges):
desired z (mm) = 1.75mm + = 1.75mm + = 2.918mm Rp 86 100.44mm 86

Then the actual depth spacing is calculated by forcing a depth at 0.0 and at dmax (where the int operator truncates the quantity in parentheses):
actualz (mm) = d max d max int desired z 21mm
21mm int 2.918mm

= 3.0mm

3. Calculate the fanline spacing in the calculation grid, x: The desired fanline spacing at the nominal reference distance (which is also the pencil spacing at the nominal reference distance) is calculated based on the cone size (a smaller spacing is used for smaller cones):
desired x (mm) = cone size* 0.005 + 1.8 = 60.00mm* 0.005 + 1.8mm = 2.1mm

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The actual fanline spacing is calculated to be as close as possible to the desired fanline spacing subject to the additional constraints that fanlines exist at the central axis and at the field edges, according to the equation:
actual x (mm) = cone size* 0.5 0.5+ 0.5* cone size int desired x 60mm* 0.5 0.5mm+ 0.5* 60mm int 2.1mm

= 2.143mm

Determine the off-axis factor due to scatter occurring above the cone for all points contributing dose to the calculation point
It is necessary to determine the air-scatter factor for all points surrounding the calculation point which are within the region over which dose will be contributed. This region extends to 3.4 times the respective MCS value of each of the points surrounding the calculation point. Therefore, in order to determine the points for which the air-scatter factor must be calculated, it is first necessary to determine the MCS value of all points surrounding the calculation point. Since the setup in this example is a water phantom with a flat surface, all points at a given depth will have the same MCS value, and therefore only one MCS calculation for the depth of the calculation point need be performed. This MCS value will also be used in the central-axis term calculation and in the calculation of dose contributions in subsequent steps.

Calculate the MCS value at depth z

The medium scatter (MCS) at any point is dependent on the effective depth rather than the physical depth of the point. Thus in order to calculate the MCS for the calculation point, we must first calculate the effective depth of each depth increment up to the depth of the weight point. The effective depth is equal to the sum of the products of each of the depth increments and each increment's respective electron density value. In this example calculation, the depth increment is 3mm and the electron densities are all 1.0 since the medium is water. Therefore, the effective and physical depths are identical at all depths. In order to calculate the MCS value at the depth of 1.2cm, 4 iterations of the recursion formula evaluations must be carried out, i.e., the MCS

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values at the first 4 depths must be calculated. At a depth zero, the starting point of the evaluations, all three recursion coefficients and hence the MCS (which is the A2 coefficient) are zero. The calculation at the next four depths is carried out according to the following equations:
Z eff T(z) = T 0 1 Rp
dzscat(n) =

z * asp(T)* spr where asp is the angular scattering 2

power for the mean electron energy at z, T(z), and spr is the specific scattering power ratio of the electron density at the current depth element (or 1.0 for all elements in this example since the medium is water).
Ao (n) = Ao (n - 1)+ dzscat(n) A1 (n) = A1 (n - 1)+z* Ao (n - 1) -

z * dzscat(n) 2

A2 (n) = A2 (n - 1)+ 2* z* A1 (n - 1) + z 2 * Ao (n - 1)+

z 2 * dzscat(n) 3

The sigma-mcs value for the first depth, n = 1, is calculated as follows:

depth = 3mm, z = 3mm 3mm T(1) = 20 MeV 1 100.44mm = 19.4 MeV
19.4 - 15 asp(19.4MeV) = asp(15)+ * [asp(20) - asp(15)] 20 - 15 = 0.00337 + 4.4 [0.00200 - 0.00337] 5

= 0.002164 mm-1 dzscat(1) = 3mm * 0.002164 mm-1 = 0.003246 2

Ao (1) = 0 + 0.003246 = 0.003246

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A1 (1) = 0 + 3mm* 0 -

3mm * 0.003246 2

= - 0.004869mm
2 A2 (1) = MCS (1)

= 0 + 2* 3mm* 0 + (3mm )2 * 0 + = 0.009738 mm2

(3mm)2 * 0.003246 3

The sigma-mcs value for the second depth, n = 2, is calculated as follows:

depth = 6mm, z = 3mm 6mm T(2) = 20MeV 1 = 18.8MeV 100.44mm

18.8 - 15 asp(18.8MeV) = asp(15)+ * [asp(20) - asp(15)] 20 - 15 = 0.00337 + 3.8 [0.00200 - 0.00337] 5

= 0.002329 mm-1 dzscat(2) = 3mm * 0.002329 mm-1 = 0.003494 2

Ao (2) = 0.003246 + 0.003494 = 0.006740 A1 (2) = - 0.004869mm+ 3mm* (0.003246) = - 0.000372mm

2 A2 (2) = MCS (2)

3mm (0.003494) 2

= 0.009738 mm2 + 2* 3mm* (-0.004869mm)+ (3mm )2 * (0.003246)+ = 0.02022 mm2 (3mm )2 * 0.003494 3

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The sigma-mcs value for the third depth, n = 3, is calculated as follows:

depth = 9mm, z = 3mm 9mm T(3) = 20MeV 1 = 18.2 MeV 100.44mm

18.2 - 15 asp(18.2MeV) = asp(15)+ * [asp(20) - asp(15)] 20 - 15

= 0.00337 + 3.2 [0.00200 - 0.00337] 5

= 0.002493 mm-1 dzscat(3) = 3mm * 0.002493 mm-1 = 0.003740 2

Ao (3) = 0.006740 + 0.003740 = 0.01048 A1 (3) = - 0.000372mm+ 3mm* (0.006740) = 0.01424mm

2 A2 (3) = MCS (3)

3mm (0.003740) 2

= 0.02022 mm2 + 2* 3mm* (-0.000372mm)+ (3mm )2 * (0.006740)+ = 0.08987 mm2 (3mm )2 * 0.003740 3

The sigma-mcs value for the fourth depth, n = 4, is calculated as follows:

depth = 12mm, z = 3mm 12mm T(4) = 20MeV 1 = 17.61 MeV 100.44mm

17.61 - 15 asp(17.61MeV) = asp(15)+ * [asp(20) - asp(15)] 20 - 15

= 0.00337 + 2.61 [0.00200 - 0.00337] 5

= 0.002650 mm-1

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dzscat(4) =

3mm * 0.002650 mm-1 = 0.003983 2

2 A2 (4) = MCS (4)

= MCS 2 (12mm) = 0.08987 mm2 + 2* 3mm* (0.01424mm) + (3mm )2 * (0.01048)+ = 0.2816 mm2 (3mm )2 * 0.003983 3

Now, the range over which points will contribute dose, and hence the range over which the air-scatter factor must be calculated is found by multiplying 2MCS by the FMCS value, 1.75, and multiplying the square root of this amount (the rms) by 3.4 (3.4 is the number of rms's over which the summations are performed):
MCS range (n) = = MCS (n)* 1.75 * 3.4 0.2816 mm2 * 1.75 * 3.4

= 2.387mm

This distance corresponds to the following number of fanlines:

MCS range number of fanlines = int + 0.5 fanline spacing 2.387mm = int + 0.5 2.169mm = int (1.600) = 1

This means that the region over which dose will be scattered is a square centered at the calculation point and with sides of size 3 elements. In order to know whether or not the air-scatter factor will vary over these 9 elements, we first need to compute the range over which the air-scatter contribution must be summed. Then we need to determine whether or not the values used to compute the contributions vary over these 9 elements.

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Calculate the air value at depth z

Computation of air is much simpler than that of MCS:
air (z) = x * ( Lo + z)
= x * (SSD - SCD + z) = 0.022* (1000mm - 950mm+ 12mm) = 1.364mm

Now the region to each side of the calculation point over which the air scatter factor contributions will be summed is 3.4 times air, or 4.638mm. The only parameter that would cause the air-scatter factor to vary over the 9 elements would be variations in the initial pencil beam intensity, since the air value is constant over a plane at a given depth. Since the initial pencil beam intensity is 1.0 over the inner 3 x 3cm region of the field, and the furthest point for which the air contribution must be calculated is 0.5* (3* 2.169mm)+ 4.638mm = 7.891mm from the central axis, which is well within the region where the initial pencil beam intensities are equal to 1.0. Therefore, we have proven that the air scatter factor is identical for all the points contributing dose to the calculation point, and we only need to carry out the double summation involved in the air-scatter computation once.

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Convolve the initial pencil distribution with air to find the air factor at the calculation point and hence at points contributing dose to the calculation point
As presented earlier, the equation for Sair(x,y,z) is:

S air ( x, y, z ) =

1 S ( xi , y j , ) 4 i = W x j = L y
2 2

+W x 2

+L y 2

x x xi + 2 xi 2 erf erf 2 air ( z ) 2 air ( z ) y y y + y j 2 j 2 erf erf 2 air ( z ) 2 air ( z )

The limits of the summations will be equal to the indices of the elements over which 99.96% of the dose lies (that being 3.4 times the air value, or 4.638mm beyond the calculation point's fanline), rather than the full field dimensions. The indices are the number of elements to which this distance corresponds, as found by the equation:

air range number of fanlines = int + 0.5 fan spacing

4.638mm = int + 0.5 2.169mm

= int(2.638)

= 2
This number indicates that region over which contributions will be summed is a square centered on the calculation point, with 2 elements to each side of the calculation point, or a 5 element by 5 element region consisting of 25 contributing elements. There is a high degree of

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symmetry in the contributions from these elements since the contributions are radially symmetric about the center. This fact will be utilized to reduce the number of calculations, which need to be explicitly carried out. As a result of the radial symmetry of the initial pencil beam distribution over the contributing region, only 6 of the 25 points need be computed (as shown in Figure 6.): There is only 1 point contributing the amount calculated at (i=0, j=0). By symmetry, there are 8 points contributing the amount calculated at (i=2, j=1). Again by symmetry, there are 4 points each contributing the amount calculated at the remaining points: (i=2, j=0), (i=1, j=1), (i=1, j=0), and (i=2, j=2).

Figure 6. Region of Elements Contributing to theScatter-Air Factor at the Calculation Point, (0,0)

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Since the projected pencil size at a given depth is the same as the fanline spacing at that depth, xi xi-1 = x, the above equation can be rewritten in the form:
1 Sair ( x , y , z ) = 4

erf erf

i =2 j =2

S( xi , y j , )
(i +.5) * x

erf 2 air ( z ) j + .5 * x erf 2 air ( z )

(i .5) * x

( j .5) * x

2 air ( z ) 2 air ( z )

Expanding the summations, the sum of all 25 contributions can be expressed as:
S air (0,0,12mm) = [ S air (i = 0, j = 0)] + 8* [ S air (i = -2, j = 1)] + 4* [ S air (i = -1, j = 0)+ S air (i = -2, j = 0) + S air (i = -1, j = -1) + S air (i = -2, j = -2)]

The contribution from the element at i=2, j=2, is given by:

S air ( i = 2 , j = 2 ) =
1 erf 4 ( 15) * 2.169mm ( 2.5) * 2.169mm . erf . . 2 * 1364mm 2 * 1364mm

( 15) * 2.169mm ( 2.5) * 2.169mm . * erf erf . . 2 * 1364mm 2 * 1364mm 1 . = { erf ( 1687 ) erf ( 2.811 )} * { erf ( 1687 ) erf ( 2.811 )} . 4 1 = ( 0.98299 0.99993 )* ( 0.98299 0.99993 ) 4 = 0.0000717

For simplicity of presentation in the calculations of the contributions from the remaining terms, the factor evaluated.
2.169mm 21.364mm

1, which equals 1.124 is

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The contribution from the element at i=2, j=1, is given by:

S air (i = -2, j = -1) = 1 {erf[ - 1.5* 1.124 ] - erf[ - 2.5* 1.124)]} 4

* {erf[ - 0.5* 1.124 ] - erf[ - 1.5* 1.124 ]} 1 {erf(-1.687) - erf(-2.811)}* {erf(-0.562) - erf(-1.687)} 4 1 (-0.98299 - -0.99993)*(-0.57367 - -0.98299) 4

= 0.001733

The contribution from the element at i=2, j=0, is given by:

S air (i = -2, j = 0) = 1 {erf[ - 1.5* 1.124 ] - erf[ - 2.5* 1.124} 4

* {erf[0.5* 1.124 ] - erf[ - 0.5* 1.124 ]} 1 {erf(-1.687) - erf(-2.811)}* {erf(0.562) - erf(-0.562)} 4 1 (-0.98299 - -0.99993)*(0.57367 - -0.57367) 4

= 0.00486

The contribution from the element at i=1, j=0, is given by:

S air (i = -1, j = -1) = 1 {erf[ - 0.5* 1.124 ] - erf[ - 1.5* 1.124 ]} 4

* {erf[ - 0.5* 1.124 ] - erf[ - 1.5* 1.124 ]} 1 {erf(-0.562) - erf(-1.687)}* {erf(-0.562) - erf(-1.687)} 4 = 1 (-0.57367 - -0.98299)*(-0.57367 - -0.98299) 4 = 0.04189

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The contribution from the element at i=1, j=1, is given by:

S air (i = -1, j = 0) = 1 {erf[ - 0.5* 1.124 ] - erf[ - 1.5* 1.124 ]} 4

* {erf[0.5* 1.124 ] - erf[ - 0.5* 1.124 ]} 1 {erf(-0.562) - erf(-1.687)}* {erf(-0.562) - erf(0.562)} 4 1 (-0.57367 - -0.98299)*(-0.57367 - -0.57367) 4

= 0.1174

The contribution from the element at i=0, j=0, is given by:

S air (i = 0, j = 0) = 1 {erf[0.5 * 1.124 ] - erf[ - 0.5 * 1.124 ]} 4 * {erf[0.5 * 1.124 ] - erf[ - 0.5 * 1.124 ]} = 1 {erf(-0.562) - erf(-0.562)} * {erf(-0.562) - erf(0.562)} 4 1 = (-0.57367 - -0.57367)*(-0.57367 - -0.57367) 4 = 0.3291

and the sum of all contributions is:

S air (0,0,12mm) = S air (i = 0, j = 0) + 8 * [ S air (i = -2, j = -1)] + 4 * [( S air (i = -1, j = 0) + S air (i = -2, j = 0) + S air (i = -1, j = -1) + S air (i = -2, j = -2)] = 0.3291 + 8 * (0.001733) + 4 * (0.1174 + 0.00486 + 0.04189 + 0.0000717) = 0.99985

Thus the final value for the air-scatter factor for each of the points contributing dose is 0.99985. The fact that the value of the air-scatter factor is nearly equal to 1.0 is a consequence of the fact that the initial pencil beam intensity distribution is unity for all points in the summations for the air-scatter factor. The deviation from 1.0 is most likely simply due to the fact that we cut off the summation at the point where 99.93% of the total has been accumulated. The value begins to be significantly less than one for points approaching the field edge, or for distances very far from the cone.

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Determine the central-axis term due to both scatter occurring above the cone and scatter in the medium for all points contributing dose
The equation (in the discrete form) for calculating the central-axis term at a point is:

G0 ,0 ,H2O [ SSDbeam , cone , Z eff ( x , y , z )] = { PDDH2O [ Z eff ( x , y , z )] D photon [ 0,0, Z eff ( x , y , z )]} 1 4 * erf * erf
+L y + 2 cm 2

L W j= y 2 cm i = x 2 cm 2 2

+W x + 2 cm 2

S ( xi , y j ) x xi 2 2 H2O ( Z eff x yj 2 2 H2O ( Z eff ) )

x xi + 2 2 H2O ( Z eff x yj + 2 2 H2O ( Z eff

erf ) erf )

Calculate the air value at depth z

The numerator of the above equation represents the electron component of the measured PDD data. The electron component equals the measured PDD (at the closest millimeter) at the depth of the calculation point minus the photon component at this depth, where (since the depth is above Rp + 5mm) the photon component is modelled as being equal to the PDD at a depth of 5mm beyond the practical range:
PDDelectron (z) = PDDmeasured (z) - PDD photon (z) = PDDmeasured (z) - PDDmeasured ( R p + 5mm) = PDDmeasured (z) - PDDmeasured (105.44)

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The PDD at 5mm beyond the practical range is found by interpolation between neighboring PDDs:
105.44 - 105 PDD(105.44) = PDD(105)+ * [PDD(106) - PDD(105)] 106 - 105 0.44 = 5.17 + * (4.68 - 5.17) 1
= 4.954

PDDelectron (12mm) = PDDmeasured (12mm) - PDDmeasured ( R p + 5mm) = PDDmeasured (12mm) - PDDmeasured (105.44) = 101.00 - 4.954 = 96.05

Deconvolve the electron component of the measured PDD data given a smearing function equal to H O to find the central-axis term at the points contributing dose to the calculation point
2

The measured PDD value will deviate from the central-axis value by an amount equal to the dose that is scattered away from the central axis and is not scattered back by neighboring elements. Thus to determine the central-axis term, we divide the measured PDD value by the fraction of the area under the water Gaussian which represents scatter contributions to the calculation point. For the PDD data, which is measured in a water phantom, convolving twice with both the air and MCS Gaussians is the same as convolving once with the Gaussian found by convolving the two Gaussians together (this can be dose since the MCS Gaussian dose not vary laterally). The rms of this Gaussian is equal to:
H 20 = 2air + fmcs* 2mcs

(1.364mm )2 + 1.75* 0.2816 mm2 = 1.534mm

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The distance of the region over which the water scatter will be computed is 3.4 times the water sigma. The number of elements surrounding the calculation point which corresponds to a distance of 3.4* H 2O 2 (or
3.4* 1.534mm = 5.216mm 3):

water range number of fanlines = int + 0.5 fan spacing 5.216mm = int + 0.5 2.169mm
= int (2.905) = 2

Calculate the sigma-water value at depth z

The number of elements, which must be summed to determine the offaxis factor due to water scatter, is the same as the number required for computing the air-scatter factor. Thus the equations for computing the erf differences are the same as those in the air-scatter calculation, except that the value appearing in the equations is now H O instead of air.
2

The contribution from the element at i=2, j=1 is given by: For simplicity in the calculations of the contributions from the remaining terms, the below equations contain the factor 0.9998, which is equal to the factor
2.169mm ( 2 * 1.534mm)

4.

The contribution from the element at i=2, j=2, is given by:

S air (i = -2, j = -2) =
1 [erf( - 1.5* 0.9998 ) - erf( - 2.5* 0.9998 )] 4

* [erf( - 1.5* 0.9998 ) - erf( - 2.5* 0.9998 )] 1 [erf(-1.500) - erf(-2.500)]* [erf(-1.500) - erf(-2.500)] 4 1 [-0.96602 - -0.99959]*[-0.96602 - -0.99959] 4 = 0.0002817

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The contribution from the element at i=2, j=0, is given by:

S air (i = -2, j = 0) = 1 [erf(-1.500) - erf(-2.500)]* [erf(0.500) - erf(-0.500)] 4 1 [-0.96602 - -0.99959]*[0.52006 - -0.52006] 4

= 0.00873

The contribution from the element at i=1, j=0, is given by:

S air (i = -1, j = 0) = 1 [erf(-0.500) - erf(-1.500)]* [erf(0.500) - erf(-0.500)] 4 1 [-0.52006 - -0.96602]*[0.52006 - -0.52006] 4

0.1160

The contribution from the element at i=1, j=1, is given by:

S air (i = -1, j = -1) = 1 [erf(-0.500) - erf(-1.500)]* [erf(-0.500) - erf(-1.500)] 4 1 [-0.52006 - -0.96602]*[-0.52006 - -0.96602] 4

= 0.04972

The contribution from the element at i=0, j=0, is given by:

S air (i = 0, j = 0) = 1 [erf(0.500) - erf(-0.500)]* [erf(0.500) - erf(-0.500)] 4 1 [-0.52006 - -0.52006]*[-0.52006 - -0.52006] 4

= 0.2705

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The sum of all contributions can be expressed as:

S H 20 (0,0,12mm) = S air (i = 0, j = 0) + 8 * [ S air (i = -2, j = -1)] + 4* [( S air (i = -1, j = 0)+ S air (i = -2, j = 0) + S air (i = -1, j = -1)+ S air (i = -2, j = -2)]

= 0.2705 + 8 * (0.003743) + 4* (0.1160 + 0.00873 + 0.04972 + 0.0002817)

= 0.99937

Again, the off-axis term for the central axis measurements for water is nearly 1.0, a consequence of the fact that the contributing elements are all confined to a region where the initial pencil beam intensities are 1.0. Now we can compute the central-axis term:
G H 2O (0,0,12mm) = PDDelectron (12mm) S H 2O (0,0,12mm)

96.05 0.99937 = 96.11

Computation of the inverse square factor is carried out according to the equation:
f inverse (x, y,z) =
square

[ SSDbeam + Z eff (x, y,z) ] 2 ( SSDbeam + z )2

Since the SSD for the fanline through the calculation point is equal to the beam SSD (these being coincident), and since the effective depth of the calculation point is equal to its physical depth, the inverse square factor is unity.

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Manual Calculation Manual Calculation Pencil Beam

Determine the dose contributions from all points lying within 3.4 times sigma-water of the calculation point
The final calculation of the dose contributions from neighboring elements is found by computing for each point contributing dose the product the off-axis factor, central-axis factor, air-scatter factor and inverse square factor, and then summing the contributions from all points. The off-axis factor is computed using the same equations as for the calculation of the off-axis factor for both the air and water Gaussians, except that the sigma for this Gaussian is MCS. As determined in Step 2, the range over which medium scatter, or MCS occurs is 1 element. We therefore need to compute the contributions for each of 9 elements centered at the calculation point. (The below equations use a sigma value of the square root of the fmcs* 2 = 1.75 * 0.2816 mm2 = 0.7020mm 5) MCS The contribution from the element at i=0, j=0 is given by:
S MCS ( i = 0, j = 0 ) = 1 ( 0.5 )* 2.169mm ( 0.5 )* 2.169mm erf erf 4 2*.7020mm 2*.7020mm

( 0.5 )* 2.169mm ( 0.5 )* 2.169mm * erf erf 2*.7020mm 2*.7020mm 1 . . . . = { erf ( 10924 ) erf ( 10924 )} * { erf ( 10924 ) erf ( 10924 )} 4 1 = ( 0.87775 0.87775) * ( 0.87775 0.87775 ) 4 = 0.7704

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Manual Calculation Manual Calculation Pencil Beam

The contribution from the element at i=1, j=1 is given by:

S M CS (i = -1, j = -1) =

1 [erf(- 0.5 * 2.185) - erf(- 1.5 * 2.185)] 4

* [erf(- 0.5 * 2.185) - erf(- 1.5 * 2.185)] 1 [erf(-1.0924) - erf(-3.2772)] * [erf(-1.0924) - erf(-3.2772)] 4 1 [-0.87775 - -1.0]*[-0.87775 - -1.0] 4

= 0.00374

The contribution from the element at i=1, j=0 is given by:

S M CS (i = -1, j = 0) =

1 [erf(- 0.5 * 2.185) - erf(- 1.5 * 2.185)] 4

* [erf(0.5 * 2.185) - erf(- 0.5 * 2.185)] 1 [erf(-1.0924) - erf(-3.2772)]* [erf(1.0924) - erf(-1.0924)] 4 1 [-0.87775 - -1.0]*[0.87775 - -0.87775] 4 = 0.05365

Calculate the final dose at the calculation point

The electron dose contribution from each element is found by multiplying together the off-axis factor, central-axis factor, inverse square factor, and air-scatter factor at each element. Since the latter three factors are identical for each of the contributing elements, they can be factored out, and the total dose expressed as the product of these three terms and the total off-axis term. The total off-axis term is given by:

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Manual Calculation Manual Calculation Pencil Beam

S H 20 (0,0,12mm) = S air (i = 0, j = 0) + 4* [ S air (i = -1, j = 0)+ S air (i = -1, j = -1)] = 0.7704 + 4* (0.00374 + 0.05365) = 0.99996

The final computation of dose at the point is found from the equation:
D(0,0,12mm) = off - axis component * central - axis component * inverse square factor * air - scatter factor + D photon (0,0,12mm) = 0.99997 * 96.11* 1.0* 0.99985+ 4.954 = 101.046

Thus the calculated dose matches the measured PDD value at the calculation point to within 0.054%, as is expected. The results of the manual calculation can be compared to the values generated by the software by displaying the Source Index for the calculation. The Source Index lists the PDD at the physical depth, which is just the measured PDD value, and the PDD at the effective depth, which is the dose value determined by the calculation. Discrepancies in the tenth of a percent digit are expected since the calculation was only carried out manually using 4digit precision. The calculated dose along the central axis should always match the opencone, nominal SSD PDD. Slight discrepancies could be explained by the fact that the PDD used is for the nearest mm to the point, rather than the interpolated value at the point. The relative sizes of the cone and sigmawater values in this example resulted in an off-axis value of nearly 1.0 for the PDD measurements. For smaller cones, or at greater depths and greater distances from the surface, this term may be less than 1.0. For points which are not along the central axis, the dose values will begin to be different from the PDDs at the off-axis distance at which the initial pencil beam intensities used to compute the air-scatter factor of any of the points contributing dose to the calculation point are less than one, i.e., near the edge of the field. In such cases, the off-axis factors for the MCS and air scatter, which in this manual calculation were nearly 1.0, would be less than 1.0.

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