Correction of lateral response artifacts from flatbed scanners for dual-channel radiochromic film dosimetry

In this study, we evaluated the inter-unit variability of the lateral response artifact for multiple flatbed scanners, focusing on the dual-channel method, and investigated the correction method of the lateral non-uniformity. Four scanners with A3+ paper-size and five scanners with A4 paper-size were evaluated. To generate the dose–response curves, small pieces of the Gafchromic EBT3 and EBT-XD films were irradiated, and five of the pieces were repeatedly scanned by moving them on the scanner to evaluate the lateral non-uniformity. To calculate the dose distribution accounting for the lateral non-uniformity, linear functions of the correction factor, representing the difference between the pixel values at offset position and the scanner midline, were calculated for red and blue color channels at each lateral position. Large variations of the lateral non-uniformity among the scanners were observed, even for the same model of scanner. For high dose, red color showed pixel value profiles similar to symmetric curves, whereas the profiles for low dose were asymmetric. The peak positions changed with dose. With correction of the lateral non-uniformity, the dose profiles of the pyramidal dose distribution measured at various scanner positions and that calculated with a treatment planning system showed almost identical profile shapes at all high-, middle- and low-dose levels. The dual-channel method used in this study showed almost identical dose profiles measured with all A3+ and A4 paper-size scanners at any positions when the corrections were applied for each color channel.