Benchmark of the PenRed Monte Carlo framework for HDR brachytherapy
Sandra Oliver1, Vicent Giménez-Alventosa2, Francisco Berumen3
1Instituto de Seguridad Industrial, Radiofísica y Medioambiental (ISIRYM), Universitat Politècnica de València, Camí de Vera s/n, 46022 València, Spain.
Zeitschrift Fur Medizinische Physik
|December 12, 2022
Summary
The PenRed Monte Carlo framework, enhanced for brachytherapy, demonstrates high accuracy in HDR brachytherapy simulations. This validated tool improves efficiency and precision for clinical applications.
Area of Science:
- Medical Physics
- Computational Physics
- Radiotherapy
Background:
- Brachytherapy requires precise dose calculations.
- Monte Carlo simulations are crucial for accurate radiotherapy planning.
- Existing tools may lack specific features for brachytherapy.
Purpose of the Study:
- To validate the PenRed Monte Carlo framework for clinical high-dose-rate (HDR) brachytherapy.
- To assess the performance of PenRed's new tallies and utilities for brachytherapy applications.
Main Methods:
- Validated PenRed, a C++ version of Penelope Monte Carlo code, with enhanced brachytherapy capabilities.
- Employed six benchmarking scenarios, including clinical prostate and lung cases.
- Utilized new tallies for collisional kerma and direct DICOM processing.
Main Results:
- Achieved agreement within 0.3% (Sk) and 0.1% (Λ) for air-kerma strength and dose rate constant.
- Demonstrated >99.8% voxel agreement within ±1% for benchmark cases.
- Showed negligible dose differences in clinical cases, with >99.8% global absorbed dose difference ratio within ±0.2%.
Conclusions:
- PenRed is validated for precise HDR brachytherapy simulations.
- New features enhance efficiency and accuracy in clinical brachytherapy.
- The framework supports detailed and reliable dose calculations.
