Developing a Mobile Phone Application for Common Radiotherapy Calculations

J Biomed Phys Eng. 2020 Apr 1;10(2):235-240. doi: 10.31661/jbpe.v0i0.1216. eCollection 2020 Apr.

Abstract

Accuracy of the radiotherapy requires some routine quality control and dosimetry calculations, which would be done by radiotherapy physicists. Due to the increasing use of computers and simulation software in medical science, as well as trends indicating its continued growth, this study aims to develop a new smart-phone application to perform common radiotherapy-related calculations. Computational formulas related to the parameters of conventional radiotherapy physics were obtained from radiotherapy physics textbooks, and the proposed application was developed using Java, based on the Android operating system. The developed application can be used on smart-phones with Android version 4 and higher, and it facilitates saving of data and results. By entering specific information, certain calculations can be made, including those applicable to superficial dosimetry, cobalt dosimetry (water phantom), cobalt dosimetry (in air), timer error, time dose fractionation (TDF) Dose, time dose fractionation (TDF) fractionation, superficial cone, superficial collimator, equivalent square, Linac dose, tissue phantom ratio 20-10, motorized wedge, field gap, biologically effective dose (BED), absolute Linac dosimetry, Mayneord F factor. The accuracy of the apps results checked with the present software installed on the PCs. Given that there are no existing applications in this field, the proposed App could be useful in facilitating and accelerating radiotherapy related calculations.

Keywords: Mobile Application; Radiation Oncology; Radiotherapy; Smart Phone.