Monte carlo radiotherapy simulator: Applications and feasibility studies

Abstract

This paper presents the application of an inhouse developed Monte Carlo Radiotherapy Simulator (MCRTS) to carry out complex radiotherapy investigations: Image Guided Radiotherapy (IGRT) with Cone-Beam Computed Tomography (CBCT) implementation and protection of irregular volume during tumor treatment. For the purposes of these simulation studies the MCRTS code has been additionally improved to include graphical features that facilitate the tumor delineating. A PC cluster with 24 dual-core processors nodes, running Linux operating system, is built to accelerate the calculations. Investigations of using megavoltage CBCT for tissue localization show that this technique could be used primarily to patient treatment for alignment purposes, using bony structures or air cavities. The feasibility study of shielding an irregular volume based on custom shielding filters designed by MCRTS demonstrates promising results by means of level of protection.