title: A vectorized Monte Carlo code for radiotherapy treatment planning dose calculation.
abstract: How to speed up Monte Carlo (MC) simulation in dose calculation without losing its intrinsic accuracy is one of the key issues of making a clinical MC dose engine. In this study we intensively investigated a special parallel computation technique, the vectorization technique, to boost simulation efficiency on a personal computer (PC) without extra hardware investment. A MC code, dose planning method (DPM), was extensively modified into a vectorized code, V-DPM, using the streaming single-instruction-multiple-data extension (SSE) parallel computation model. Comparative simulations were conducted for typical simulation cases in both DPM and V-DPM codes. We found that in every case the V-DPM code runs 1.5 times faster than the DPM code with variance of 0.6%.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Image Science and Technology, Department of Biology and Medical Engineering, Southeast University, Nanjing 210096, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Xuejun
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Weng
authors.forename: Yulong
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yan
authors.forename: Huazhong
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Shu
authors.forename: Jiawang
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Steve B
authors.initials: SB
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.forename: Limin
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Luo
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D003205:Computing Methodologies; D009010:Monte Carlo Method; D011786:Quality Control; D011874:Radiometry / Q000379:methods*; D011879:Radiotherapy Dosage; D011880:Radiotherapy Planning, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D012984:Software