Benchmarking brachydose: Voxel based EGSnrc Monte Carlo calculations of TG-43 dosimetry parameters

In this study, BrachyDose, a recently developed EGSnrc Monte Carlo code for rapid brachytherapy dose calculations, has been benchmarked by reproducing previously published dosimetry parameters for three brachytherapy seeds with varied internal structure and encapsulation. Calculations are performed for two 125I seeds (Source Tech Medical Model STM1251 and Imagyn isoSTAR model 12501) and one l03Pd source (Theragenics Model 200). Voxel size effects were investigated with dose distribution calculations for three voxel sizes: 0.1 x 0.1 x 0.1 mm(3), 0.5 x 0.5 x 0.5 mm(3), and 1 X 1 X 1 mm(3). In order to minimize the impact of voxel size effects, tabulated dosimetry data for this study consist of a combination of the three calculations: 0.1 X 0.1 x 0.1 mm(3) voxels for distances in the range of 0