title: Technical note: overprediction of dose with default PRESTA-I boundary crossing in DOSXYZnrc and BEAMnrc.
abstract: Use of the PRESTA-I (current default) boundary crossing algorithm for charged particles in DOSXYZnrc and BEAMnrc is shown to result in dose overprediction by up to 2.5% in photon and electron beams (less in high-energy electron beams). The effect is most pronounced when charged particle equilibrium does not exist or when the phantom is not divided into uniform voxels throughout. As a result, the default boundary crossing algorithm in BEAMnrc will be changed to "exact" (single scattering).
authors: Ionizing Radiation Standards, National Research Council of Canada, Ottawa, KIA OR6 Canada. bwalters@irs.phy.nrc.ca
authors: B R B
authors: BR
authors: Walters
authors: I
authors: I
authors: Kawrakow
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D016477:Artifacts; D003198:Computer Simulation; D008954:Models, Biological; D061766:Proton Therapy; D011874:Radiometry / Q000379:methods*; D011879:Radiotherapy Dosage; D011880:Radiotherapy Planning, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods*; D011882:Radiotherapy, High-Energy / Q000379:methods*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D012984:Software; D012986:Software Validation; D011522:Protons
chemical_list: D011522:Protons