Improved heterogeneity handling in the collapsed cone dose engine for brachytherapy

Model-based dose calculation algorithms (MBDCA), such as the Advanced Collapsed cone Engine (ACE) in Oncentra Brachy® can be used to overcome the limitations of the TG-43 formalism. ACE is a point kernel superposition algorithm that calculates the total dose separated into primary, first-scatter, and multiple-scatter dose. Albeit ACE yields accurate results under most circumstances, several studies have reported underestimations of the dose to cortical bone. These underestimations are likely caused by approximations in the handling of multiple-scatter dose for non-water media. Such would result in noticeable deviations where the multiple-scatter is a considerable fraction of the total dose, that is, at greater distances from the source.

To improve and test the accuracy of the multiple-scatter dose component in the ACE algorithm to remedy its inaccuracy for non-water geometries.

A careful analysis of the transport and absorption of the multiple-scatter energy fluence revealed an inconsistency in the scaling of energy absorption ratios for non-water media of the multiple-scatter kernel. We implemented an updated algorithm version, ACE_corr, and tested it for three different geometries. All had a single ¹⁹²Ir-source at the center of a cubic water phantom with a box-shaped heterogeneity of either cortical bone or air, positioned at different distances from the source. Dose distributions for the three cases were calculated with ACE and ACE_corr and compared to Monte Carlo simulations, using the percentage dose difference ratio as figure-of-merit. All dose calculation methods scored separately the dose deposited by primary, first-scattered, and multiple-scattered photons.

The accuracy of the updated algorithm ACE_corr was superior to ACE. In the cortical bone heterogeneity, the mean percentage dose difference ratio for the total dose improved from $$ to $$ (in the worst case) by our update. Less impact was seen in the air heterogeneity, where both ACE and ACE_corr deviated less than 2% from the Monte Carlo results. The algorithm update mainly concerns the multiple-scattered dose component, but an accompanying data processing update also had a small effect ( $$ 0.5% difference) on the primary and first-scattered dose. The calculation times were not affected.

The updates to ACE improved the accuracy of multiple-scatter dose calculation for non-water media, without increasing calculation times.