title: ALGEBRA: ALgorithm for the heterogeneous dosimetry based on GEANT4 for BRAchytherapy.
abstract: Task group 43 (TG43)-based dosimetry algorithms are efficient for brachytherapy dose calculation in water. However, human tissues have chemical compositions and densities different than water. Moreover, the mutual shielding effect of seeds on each other (interseed attenuation) is neglected in the TG43-based dosimetry platforms. The scientific community has expressed the need for an accurate dosimetry platform in brachytherapy. The purpose of this paper is to present ALGEBRA, a Monte Carlo platform for dosimetry in brachytherapy which is sufficiently fast and accurate for clinical and research purposes. ALGEBRA is based on the GEANT4 Monte Carlo code and is capable of handling the DICOM RT standard to recreate a virtual model of the treated site. Here, the performance of ALGEBRA is presented for the special case of LDR brachytherapy in permanent prostate and breast seed implants. However, the algorithm is also capable of handling other treatments such as HDR brachytherapy.
authors.affiliation: Département de Radio-Oncologie et Centre de Recherche en Cancérologie de l'université Laval, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Québec, Québec, Quebec, Canada.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Afsharpour
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Landry
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: D'Amours
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Enger
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Reniers
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Poon
authors.forename: J-F
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Carrier
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Verhaegen
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Beaulieu
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D001918:Brachytherapy / Q000379:methods*; D018427:Breast Implants; D006801:Humans; D009010:Monte Carlo Method; D011874:Radiometry / Q000379:methods*; D011879:Radiotherapy Dosage; D013997:Time Factors