Abstract
Accurate dose calculation is essential to the success of modern radiation therapy especially for treatment planning involving heterogeneous patient anatomy. This presentation will facilitate participants with the clinical implementation and application of Monte Carlo dose calculation algorithms in treatment planning and dosimetry verification for advanced radiation therapy treatments. Following a brief introduction to the Monte Carlo method for radiation transport and radiotherapy applications we will discuss the radiotherapy process and the dose calculation requirements for treatment planning. Detailed descriptions will be given of the important steps and procedures for the clinical implementation and commissioning of Monte Carlo dose calculation software including clinical accelerator simulation, radiation source modeling, clinical beam commissioning, patient CT data conversion, beam modifier simulation, patient dose calculation, dose display and statistical analysis for Monte Carlo dose calculation. We will also discuss a few issues that are Monte Carlo specific such as dose prescription, energy cutoff values for Monte Carlo electron transport, voxel size effect on dose calculation accuracy and techniques to improve computation efficiency. Finally, we will describe the current status of commercially available Monte Carlo dose calculation systems for radiotherapy treatment planning.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 2715 |
| Number of pages | 1 |
| Journal | Medical Physics |
| Volume | 36 |
| Issue number | 6 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Jun 2009 |
| Externally published | Yes |