DEVELOPMENT OF A MULTIMODAL MONTE CARLO BASED TREATMENT PLANNING SYSTEM

Area of Science:

• Medical Physics
• Radiation Oncology
• Computational Dosimetry

Background:

• Boron Neutron Capture Therapy (BNCT) requires precise treatment planning for effective clinical application.
• Existing treatment planning systems may lack multimodal capabilities for various radiation therapies.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and verify a novel multimodal Monte Carlo-based treatment planning system, named Tsukuba Plan.
• To enable accurate dose estimation for BNCT and other radiation therapy techniques.

Main Methods:

• Development of the Tsukuba Plan software utilizing the PHITS (Particle and Heavy Ion Transport Simulation) code as the Monte Carlo dose calculation engine.
• Implementation of multimodal capabilities for dose estimation in proton therapy, X-ray therapy, heavy ion therapy, and BNCT.
• Verification of Tsukuba Plan's accuracy through estimations of thermal neutron flux and gamma-ray dose, fundamental to BNCT dosimetry.

Main Results:

• Tsukuba Plan successfully performs dose estimations for multiple radiation therapy types, including BNCT.
• Verification studies confirm the system's accuracy in estimating critical dosimetry parameters for BNCT.
• The system demonstrates potential for application beyond BNCT to other radiation therapies.

Conclusions:

• Tsukuba Plan is a validated, accurate treatment planning system for BNCT.
• The multimodal nature of Tsukuba Plan enhances its versatility for various radiation oncology applications.
• Further investigation into Tsukuba Plan's utility in other radiation therapies is warranted.