Reconstruction of volume averaging effect‐free continuous photon beam profiles from discrete ionization chamber array measurements using a machine learning technique

PURPOSE: The use of the ionization chamber array ICProfiler (ICP) is limited by its relatively poor detector spatial resolution and the inherent volume averaging effect (VAE). The purpose of this work is to study the feasibility of reconstructing VAE‐free continuous photon beam profiles from ICP measurements with a machine learning technique. METHODS: In‐ and cross‐plane photon beam profiles of a 6 MV beam from an Elekta linear accelerator, ranging from 2 × 2 to 10 × 10 cm(2) at 1.5 cm, 5 cm, and 10 cm depth, were measured with an ICP. The discrete measurements were interpolated with a Makima method to obtain continuous beam profiles. Artificial neural networks (ANNs) were trained to restore the penumbra of the beam profiles. Plane‐specific (in‐ and cr‐plane) ANNs and a combined ANN were separately trained. The performance of the ANNs was evaluated using the penumbra width difference (PWD, the difference between the penumbra widths of the reconstructed and the reference profile). The plane‐specific and the combined ANNs were compared to study the feasibility of using a single ANN for both in‐ and cross‐plane. RESULTS: The profiles reconstructed with all the ANNs had excellent agreement with the reference. For in‐plane, the ANNs reduced the PWD from 1.6 ± 0.7 mm at 1.5 cm depth to 0.1 ± 0.1 mm, from 1.8 ± 0.6 mm at 5.0 cm depth to 0.1 ± 0.1 mm, and from 2.4 ± 0.1 mm at 10.0 cm depth to 0.0 ± 0.0 mm; for cross‐plane, the ANNs reduced the PWD from 1.2 ± 0.4 mm at 1.5 cm depth, 1.2 ± 0.3 mm at 5.0 cm depth, and 1.6 ± 0.1 mm at 10.0 cm depth, to 0.1 ± 0.1 mm. CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrated the feasibility of using simple ANNs to reconstruct VAE‐free continuous photon beam profiles from discrete ICP measurements. A combined ANN can restore the penumbra of in‐ and cross‐plane beam profiles of various fields at different depths.