A simplified model of the source channel of the Leksell Gamma Knife: testing multisource configurations with PENELOPE

A simplification of the source channel geometry of the Leksell Gamma Knife (GK), recently proposed by the authors and checked for a single source configuration (Al-Dweri F M O, Lallena A M and Vilches M 2004 Phys. Med. Biol. 49 2687-703), has been used to calculate the dose distributions along the x, y and z axes in a water phantom with a diameter of 160 mm, for different configurations of the Gamma Knife, including 201, 150 and 102 unplugged sources. The code PENELOPE (v. 2001) has been used to perform the Monte Carlo simulations. In addition, the output factors for the 14, 8 and 4 mm helmets have been calculated. The results found for the dose profiles show a qualitatively good agreement with previous ones obtained with EGS4 and PENELOPE (v. 2000) codes and with the predictions of GammaPlan. The output factors obtained with our model agree within the statistical uncertainties with those calculated with the same Monte Carlo codes and with those measured with different techniques. Owing to the accuracy of the results obtained and to the reduction in the computational time with respect to full geometry simulations (larger than a factor 15), this simplified model opens the possibility of using Monte Carlo tools for planning purposes in the Gamma Knife.