Dose estimation for cone-beam computed tomography in image-guided radiation therapy for pelvic cancer using adult mesh-type reference computational phantoms

The use of cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) is expanding owing to its installation in linear accelerators for radiation therapy, and the imaging dose induced by this system has become the center of attention. Here, the dose to patients caused by the CBCT imager was investigated. Organ doses and effective doses for male and female mesh-type reference computational phantoms (MRCPs) and pelvis CBCT mode, routinely used for pelvic irradiation, were estimated using the Particle and Heavy Ion Transport Code System. The simulation results were confirmed based on the point-dose measurements. The estimated organ doses for male MRCPs with/without raised arms and for female MRCPs with/without raised arms were 0.00286-35.6 mGy, 0.00286-35.1 mGy, 0.00933-39.5 mGy, and 0.00931-39.0 mGy, respectively. The anticipated effective doses for male MRCPs with/without raised arms and female MRCPs with/without raised arms irradiated by pelvis CBCT mode were 4.25 mSv, 4.16 mSv, 7.66 mSv, and 7.48 mSv, respectively. The results of this study will be useful for patients who undergo image-guided radiotherapy with CBCT. However, because this study only covered one type of cancer with one type of imager, and image quality was not considered, more studies should be conducted to estimate the radiation dose from imaging devices in radiation therapy.