Proceedings of the Korean Society of Medical Physics Conference (한국의학물리학회:학술대회논문집)

Korean Society of Medical Physics (한국의학물리학회)
권호 표지

Photon dose calculation of pencil beam kernel based treatment planning system compared to the Monte Carlo simulation

  • Cheong, Kwang-Ho (Dept. of Biomedical Engineering, The Catholic university) ;
  • Suh, Tae-Suk (Dept. of Biomedical Engineering, The Catholic university) ;
  • Kim, Hoi-Nam (Dept. of Radiation Oncology, Kangnam St. Mary's Hospital) ;
  • Lee, Hyoung-Koo (Dept. of Biomedical Engineering, The Catholic university) ;
  • Choe, Bo-Young (Dept. of Biomedical Engineering, The Catholic university) ;
  • Yoon, Sei-Chul (Dept. of Radiation Oncology, Kangnam St. Mary's Hospital)
  • Published : 2002.09.01
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Abstract

Accurate dose calculation in radiation treatment planning is most important for successful treatment. Since human body is composed of various materials and not an ideal shape, it is not easy to calculate the accurate effective dose in the patients. Many methods have been proposed to solve the inhomogeneity and surface contour problems. Monte Carlo simulations are regarded as the most accurate method, but it is not appropriate for routine planning because it takes so much time. Pencil beam kernel based convolution/superposition methods were also proposed to correct those effects. Nowadays, many commercial treatment planning systems, including Pinnacle and Helax-TMS, have adopted this algorithm as a dose calculation engine. The purpose of this study is to verify the accuracy of the dose calculated from pencil beam kernel based treatment planning system Helax-TMS comparing to Monte Carlo simulations and measurements especially in inhomogeneous region. Home-made inhomogeneous phantom, Helax-TMS ver. 6.0 and Monte Carlo code BEAMnrc and DOSXYZnrc were used in this study. Dose calculation results from TPS and Monte Carlo simulation were verified by measurements. In homogeneous media, the accuracy was acceptable but in inhomogeneous media, the errors were more significant.

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