title: A GPU implementation of a track-repeating algorithm for proton radiotherapy dose calculations.
abstract: An essential component in proton radiotherapy is the algorithm to calculate the radiation dose to be delivered to the patient. The most common dose algorithms are fast but they are approximate analytical approaches. However their level of accuracy is not always satisfactory, especially for heterogeneous anatomical areas, like the thorax. Monte Carlo techniques provide superior accuracy; however, they often require large computation resources, which render them impractical for routine clinical use. Track-repeating algorithms, for example the fast dose calculator, have shown promise for achieving the accuracy of Monte Carlo simulations for proton radiotherapy dose calculations in a fraction of the computation time. We report on the implementation of the fast dose calculator for proton radiotherapy on a card equipped with graphics processor units (GPUs) rather than on a central processing unit architecture. This implementation reproduces the full Monte Carlo and CPU-based track-repeating dose calculations within 2%, while achieving a statistical uncertainty of 2% in less than 1 min utilizing one single GPU card, which should allow real-time accurate dose calculations.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics and Astronomy, Rice University, Houston, TX 77005, USA. yepes@rice.edu
authors.forename: Pablo P
authors.initials: PP
authors.lastname: Yepes
authors.forename: Dragan
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Mirkovic
authors.forename: Phillip J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Taddei
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D003196:Computer Graphics; D003201:Computers; D006801:Humans; D009010:Monte Carlo Method; D061766:Proton Therapy; D011829:Radiation Dosage; D011879:Radiotherapy Dosage; D011880:Radiotherapy Planning, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods*; D011522:Protons
chemical_list: D011522:Protons