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Monte Carlo systems used for treatment planning and dose verification

Monte-Carlo-basierte Bestrahlungsplanung und Dosisverifikation für die perkutane Strahlentherapie mit Linearbeschleunigern

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Abstract

General-purpose radiation transport Monte Carlo codes have been used for estimation of the absorbed dose distribution in external photon and electron beam radiotherapy patients since several decades. Results obtained with these codes are usually more accurate than those provided by treatment planning systems based on non-stochastic methods. Traditionally, absorbed dose computations based on general-purpose Monte Carlo codes have been used only for research, owing to the difficulties associated with setting up a simulation and the long computation time required. To take advantage of radiation transport Monte Carlo codes applied to routine clinical practice, researchers and private companies have developed treatment planning and dose verification systems that are partly or fully based on fast Monte Carlo algorithms. This review presents a comprehensive list of the currently existing Monte Carlo systems that can be used to calculate or verify an external photon and electron beam radiotherapy treatment plan. Particular attention is given to those systems that are distributed, either freely or commercially, and that do not require programming tasks from the end user. These systems are compared in terms of features and the simulation time required to compute a set of benchmark calculations.

Zusammenfassung

Seit mehreren Jahrzehnten werden allgemein anwendbare Monte-Carlo-Codes zur Simulation des Strahlungstransports benutzt, um die Verteilung der absorbierten Dosis in der perkutanen Strahlentherapie mit Photonen und Elektronen zu evaluieren. Die damit erzielten Ergebnisse sind meist akkurater als solche, die mit nichtstochastischen Methoden herkömmlicher Bestrahlungsplanungssysteme erzielt werden können. Wegen des damit verbundenen Arbeitsaufwands und der langen Dauer der Berechnungen wurden Monte-Carlo-Simulationen von Dosisverteilungen in der konventionellen Strahlentherapie in der Vergangenheit im Wesentlichen in der Forschung eingesetzt. Im Bemühen, Monte-Carlo--Codes auch für die klinische Routine zur Verfügung zu stellen, haben einzelne Forschergruppen und Firmen Bestrahlungsplanungs- und Dosisverifikationssysteme entwickelt, die teilweise oder ganz auf Monte-Carlo-Algorithmen aufbauen. Der vorliegende Artikel gibt eine umfassende Übersicht der derzeit existierenden Monte-Carlo-Systeme, die benutzt werden können, um einen konventionellen Bestrahlungsplan einer Photonen- und Elektronentherapie zu berechnen oder zu verifizieren. Im Fokus standen dabei die Systeme, die entweder frei oder kommerziell erhältlich sind, also für jeden Interessierten zur Verfügung stehen, und die keine eigene Programmierung von Seiten des Endnutzers erfordern. Die Kenndaten der unterschiedlichen Systeme werden dargestellt und Rechenzeiten verglichen, die benötigt werden, um eine gegebenen Aufgabe zu lösen.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the following persons for their help provided in preparing this review: Julio Almansa, Luca Cozzi, Nuria Escobar-Corral, Lluís Escudé, Matthias Fippel, Michael Fix, Andrea Flühs, Eric Franchisseur, Andrés Gómez, Diego González-Castaño, Damián Guirado, Marcelino Hermida-López, Gisela Hürtgen, Antonio Leal, Rodolfo del Moral, Carlos Mouriño, David Navarro Giménez, Josep Puxeu, José Manuel Reinoso, Carlos Sandín, Wolfgang Sauerwein, Josep Sempau, Emiliano Spezi, Hideki Takegawa, and Sergei Zavgorodni. We are grateful to the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (project BR 4043/3-1), the Spanish Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (projects FPA 2012-31993 and FPA 2015-67694-P), the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), and the Junta de Andalucía (FQM 0220, FQM 0387).

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  1. NCTeam, Strahlenklinik, Universitätsklinikum Essen, Hufelandstraße 55, D-45122, Essen, Germany

    Lorenzo Brualla

  2. Centro Médico Paitilla, Calle 53 y Ave., Balboa, Panama

    Miguel Rodriguez

  3. Departamento de Física Atómica, Molecular y Nuclear, Universidad de Granada, E-18071, Granada, Spain

    Antonio M. Lallena

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  1. Lorenzo Brualla
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  2. Miguel Rodriguez
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  3. Antonio M. Lallena
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Correspondence to Lorenzo Brualla.

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L. Brualla and M. Rodriguez declare that they are co-authors of PRIMO. A.M. Lallena declares that he has no competing interests.

This article does not contain any studies with human participants or animals performed by any of the authors.

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Brualla, L., Rodriguez, M. & Lallena, A.M. Monte Carlo systems used for treatment planning and dose verification. Strahlenther Onkol 193, 243–259 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00066-016-1075-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00066-016-1075-8

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