Dosimetric comparison of the Leksell Gamma Knife Perfexion and 4C

Object. The recently introduced Leksell Gamma Knife (LGK) Perfexion is an entirely new system with a different beam geometry compared with the LGK 4C. The new Perfexion system has 192 cobalt-60 sources that are fixed on 8 sectors (each sector has 24 Sources). Each sector can be moved independently of the others and can be set to I of 5 different positions: 3 positions defining collimator sizes of 4, 8, and 16 mm; an off position (sources are blocked); and a home position. The purpose of this study is to compare the dosimetric characteristics of the GK 4C and the Perfexion models. This comparison is important especially for the treatment of functional disorders when only a single shot with the 4- or 8-mm collimator is used. Methods. A 160-mm-diameter spherical polystyrene phantom was used for all measurements and calculations. The irradiation geometry consisted of the placement of a single shot at the center of this phantom. Comparisons were made among different dosimetric parameters obtained from calculations performed using Leksell GammaPlan v. 8.0 and measurements performed using film dosimetry. The dosimetric parameters investigated were dose profiles for all collimators in all 3 stereotactic planes (x, y, and z) including the full width at half maximum and the penumbra for each profile, Cumulative dose-volume histograms. the volume encompassed by the 50% isodose surface, the mean doses delivered to a defined matrix Volume, and relative Output factors for all collimator sizes. Results. There was excellent agreement between the dosimetric parameters of GK 4C and Perfexion for the 4- and 8-mm collimators. Conclusions. The results of this study suggest that consistent treatments of functional disorders will be delivered using either GK 4C or Perfexion. (DOI: 10.3171/JNS/2008/109/12/S3)