A graphical user interface for Monte Carlo dose calculations for brachytherapy with egs_brachy

Area of Science:

• Medical Physics
• Radiation Oncology
• Computational Imaging

Background:

• Advanced brachytherapy requires precise dose calculations beyond traditional TG43 methods.
• Current Monte Carlo (MC) codes lack efficient clinical data integration for TG186-compliant planning.
• Limited accessible MC tools hinder adoption of sophisticated dose calculation algorithms.

Purpose of the Study:

• To present and validate eb_gui, a graphical user interface for integrating DICOM data with the egs_brachy MC code.
• To facilitate fast, model-based dose calculations for brachytherapy applications.
• To bridge the gap between clinical data and advanced MC simulations for TG186 recommendations.

Main Methods:

• Developed eb_gui using C++ and the Qt5 framework for user-friendly integration.
• Validated eb_gui through five benchmarking scenarios, including WG-MBDC test cases.
• Assessed accuracy using local/global dose differences, dose histograms, and ratio maps for HDR breast and LDR prostate cases.

Main Results:

• Over 95% of voxels in test cases showed <±0.40% local dose differences and <±0.02% global differences.
• HDR breast case demonstrated >95% global difference ratios within [-0.31%, +0.39%].
• LDR prostate case simulations confirmed eb_gui's comprehensive capabilities and high accuracy.

Conclusions:

• eb_gui successfully integrates clinical data with egs_brachy for TG186-compliant, patient-specific dose evaluations.
• The open-source release promotes widespread clinical adoption of advanced MC dose calculations.
• This tool enhances accuracy and efficiency in personalized brachytherapy treatments.