title: The Monte Carlo code MCPTV--Monte Carlo dose  calculation in radiation therapy with carbon ions.
abstract: The Monte Carlo code MCPTV is presented. MCPTV is designed for dose calculation in treatment planning in radiation therapy with particles and especially carbon ions. MCPTV has a voxel-based concept and can perform a fast calculation of the dose distribution on patient CT data. Material and density information from CT are taken into account. Electromagnetic and nuclear interactions are implemented. Furthermore the algorithm gives information about the particle spectra and the energy deposition in each voxel. This can be used to calculate the relative biological effectiveness (RBE) for each voxel. Depth dose distributions are compared to experimental data giving good agreement. A clinical example is shown to demonstrate the capabilities of the MCPTV dose calculation.
authors.affiliation: Strahlenklinik, Universitaetsklinikum Erlangen, Erlangen, Germany. juergen.karg@uk-erlangen.de
authors.forename: Juergen
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Karg
authors.forename: Stefan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Speer
authors.forename: Manfred
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Schmidt
authors.forename: Reinhold
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Mueller
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D002244:Carbon / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D002817:Chordoma / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000532:radiotherapy; D003198:Computer Simulation; D006801:Humans; D007477:Ions / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D009010:Monte Carlo Method; D011827:Radiation; D011878:Radiotherapy / Q000379:methods*; D011879:Radiotherapy Dosage; D011880:Radiotherapy Planning, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods*; D019291:Skull Base; D012984:Software; D012985:Software Design; D013997:Time Factors; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed
chemical_list: D007477:Ions; D002244:Carbon