Measurement of photon beam backscatter from collimators to the beam monitor chamber using target-current-pulse-counting and telescope techniques

Backscattered radiation (BSR) arising from field-defining collimators and entering the beam monitor chamber (BMC) may contribute to observed variations in medical linear accelerator photon beam output with collimator setting. Measuring the magnitude of such contributions for particular accelerators under specified operating conditions is therefore important when attempting to understand and model accelerator head scatter. The present work was conducted to confirm some backscatter measurements for collimating jaws reported previously and to extend these to include other accelerators and a multileaf collimator (MLC). BSR reaching the BMC from the jaws of Clinac 600C, 2100C and 2300CD accelerators and from an MLC on the 2300CD was investigated using both target-current-pulse-counting and telescope methods. Our measurements show that for the Clinac 600C BSR-dependent output variations are negligible. However, for the 2100C and 2300CD BSR-dependent relative output increased in an almost linear fashion, by up to 2.4% for 15 and 18 MV beams, and by up to 1.7% for 6 MV beams, as the field size varied from 5 x 5 cm(2) to 40 x 40 cm(2). The magnitude of BSR depended upon collimator location in the head, as expected, thereby contributing to the collimator exchange effect. An earlier study at our centre using the telescope method had reported higher BSR levels. This discrepancy was resolved when corrections for telescope block and room scatter, previously assumed negligible, were made.