Clinical advantages of using unflattened 6-MV and 10-MV photon beams generated by the medical accelerator Elekta Versa HD based on their dosimetric parameters in comparison to conventional beams

Abstract

Photon beams with wide energy ranges from 4 MV to 25 MV are commonly used in radiotherapy nowadays. In recent years, there has been a strong interest in a certain modification of a radiotherapeutic apparatus by the application of the so-called flattening filter-free (FFF) beam. Several advantages of FFF beams over standard flattening filter (FF) beams are noticed, and this technical solution has aroused great interest among radiotherapeutic facilities. The goal of the present study is to investigate the differences between the conventional FF and unflattened FFF 6-MV and 10-MV photon beams in some basic dosimetric parameters and their influence on the whole radiotherapeutic treatment. The data provided here include the detailed characteristics as follows: percent depth dose (PDD), beam profile, edge of a half-profile, total scatter correction factor (TSCF) and head scatter correction factor (HSCF) for FF and FFF 6-MV and 10-MV photon beams from the Elekta Versa HD accelerator in the Katowice Oncology Center in Poland.

Keywords

• clinical application of fff beams
• dosimetric parameters
• unflattened photon beams