Clinical implementation of a GPU-based simplified Monte Carlo method for a treatment planning system of proton beam therapy.
We implemented the simplified Monte Carlo (SMC) method on graphics processing unit (GPU) architecture under the computer-unified device architecture platform developed by NVIDIA. The GPU-based SMC was clinically applied for four patients with head and neck, lung, or prostate cancer. The results were compared to those obtained by a traditional CPU-based SMC with respect to the computation time and discrepancy. In the CPU- and GPU-based SMC calculations, the estimated mean statistical errors of the calculated doses in the planning target volume region were within 0.5% rms. The dose distributions calculated by the GPU- and CPU-based SMCs were similar, within statistical errors. The GPU-based SMC showed 12.30-16.00 times faster performance than the CPU-based SMC. The computation time per beam arrangement using the GPU-based SMC for the clinical cases ranged 9-67 s. The results demonstrate the successful application of the GPU-based SMC to a clinical proton treatment planning.
National Cancer Center Hospital East, 6-5-1 Kashiwanoha, Kashiwa, Chiba 277-8577, Japan. rkohno@east.ncc.go.jp
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R
Kohno
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K
Hotta
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Nishioka
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Matsubara
R
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Tansho
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T
Suzuki
D000465:Algorithms; D003196:Computer Graphics / Q000295:instrumentation; D005260:Female; D006258:Head and Neck Neoplasms / Q000532:radiotherapy*; D006801:Humans; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000532:radiotherapy*; D008297:Male; D009010:Monte Carlo Method; D019047:Phantoms, Imaging; D011471:Prostatic Neoplasms / Q000532:radiotherapy*; D011522:Protons; D011879:Radiotherapy Dosage; D011880:Radiotherapy Planning, Computer-Assisted / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity
D011522:Protons