title: A Monte Carlo dose calculation tool for radiotherapy treatment planning.
abstract: A Monte Carlo user code, MCDOSE, has been developed for radiotherapy treatment planning (RTP) dose calculations. MCDOSE is designed as a dose calculation module suitable for adaptation to host RTP systems. MCDOSE can be used for both conventional photon/electron beam calculation and intensity modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) treatment planning. MCDOSE uses a multiple-source model to reconstruct the treatment beam phase space. Based on Monte Carlo simulated or measured beam data acquired during commissioning, source-model parameters are adjusted through an automated procedure. Beam modifiers such as jaws, physical and dynamic wedges, compensators, blocks, electron cut-outs and bolus are simulated by MCDOSE together with a 3D rectilinear patient geometry model built from CT data. Dose distributions calculated using MCDOSE agreed well with those calculated by the EGS4/DOSXYZ code using different beam set-ups and beam modifiers. Heterogeneity correction factors for layered-lung or layered-bone phantoms as calculated by both codes were consistent with measured data to within 1%. The effect of energy cut-offs for particle transport was investigated. Variance reduction techniques were implemented in MCDOSE to achieve a speedup factor of 10-30 compared to DOSXYZ.
authors.affiliation: Radiation Oncology Department, Stanford University School of Medicine, CA 94305, USA. c_ma@fccc.edu
authors.forename: C M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.forename: J S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Pawlicki
authors.forename: S B
authors.initials: SB
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Deng
authors.forename: M C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Koumrian
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Luxton
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Brain
mesh_terms: D003198:Computer Simulation; D006801:Humans; D009010:Monte Carlo Method; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000532:radiotherapy*; D019047:Phantoms, Imaging; D011880:Radiotherapy Planning, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods*; D020266:Radiotherapy, Conformal / Q000379:methods*