RADIATION BEAM ALIGNMENT FOR MEDICAL LINEAR ACCELERATORS

Radiation beam alignment for a LINAC including (1) for each beam alignment parameter value of a set: (a) with a beam alignment parameter of a LINAC set to the beam alignment parameter value, using a gantry to generate a radiation beam; (b) using an imaging device to acquire a radiation transmission image indicative of a radiation field of the radiation beam after passing by a radiation opaque marker; (c) determining a location of a beam axis of the radiation beam and a center of a shadow of the marker based on the radiation transmission image; and (d) determining a target-to-beam-axis distance between the location of the beam axis and the center of the shadow of the radiation opaque marker; and (2) determining an optimum beam alignment parameter value based on the beam alignment parameter values and the target-to-beam-axis distances determined with the LINAC set to the beam alignment parameter values.