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A source model for efficient brachytherapy computations with Monte Carlo
Author(s) -
Weaver Keith,
Hartmann Siantar Christine,
Chandler William,
White Roger M.
Publication year - 1996
Publication title -
medical physics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.473
H-Index - 180
eISSN - 2473-4209
pISSN - 0094-2405
DOI - 10.1118/1.597890
Subject(s) - monte carlo method , brachytherapy , physics , dosimetry , radiation treatment planning , computational physics , computer science , medical physics , nuclear medicine , radiation therapy , mathematics , statistics , medicine
Monte Carlo techniques have the potential for producing accurate brachytherapy dose distributions in heterogeneous finite geometries. However, for routine clinical use, computational speed must be adequate. A fast, all‐particle, CT‐based Monte Carlo code called PEREGRINE is being developed at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory for radiation treatment planning. As one feature, the code will produce accurate dose distributions from brachytherapy sources in heterogeneous geometries. For efficiency, brachytherapy sources in this model are treated as points or line segments. Radiation is emitted with the proper energy spectrum and (perhaps anisotropic) angular distribution. In particular, for anisotropic emission the polar angle is determined by a random‐number driven empirical function constructed from a source's measured or precomputed fluence emission pattern. Source model parameters are presented for iodine and iridium sources. While designed for the PEREGRINE program, this source model can be used in any Monte Carlo code.