Abstract
PRIMO is a free, self-contained linac simulator and dose calculation software based on the Monte Carlo code PENELOPE 2011. Windows-based, it is user-friendly and does not require any programming tasks by the end user. PRIMO comes with an intuitive graphical interface which guides the configuration and execution of the linac simulation in seemingly natural stages: from the primary electron source in the linac head to the collimators then down to a binned water phantom or patient computed tomography. We report here the simulations done with PRIMO of a 6 MV Varian Clinac 2100 and the dose deposition in a water phantom using student desktop computers with Pentium type processors. The program is then ported to the Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud. Here abnormal program termination due to power outages which is a common occurrence in developing countries is no longer a concern. Without the need to invest in expensive hardware upfront, the PRIMO simulations can be deployed reliably and faster in the Amazon Cloud and which for some time can be free.
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References
Rodriguez, M, Sempau, J, Brualla, L: PRIMO: A graphical environment for the Monte Carlo simulation of Varian and Elekta linacs. Strahlenther Onkol 189, 881–886 (2013).
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Salvat, F, Fernández-Varea, JM, Sempau, J: PENELOPE 2011—a code system for Monte Carlo simulation of electron and photon transport. Issy-les- Moulineaux, France: OECD Nuclear Energy Agency (2011).
PRIMO project website: https://www.primoproject.net/primo/main.
Amazon.com AWS EC2: https://aws.amazon.com/ec2/.
Amazon.com AWS Educate: https://aws.amazon.com/education/awseducate/.
Acknowledgements
I express my gratitude and appreciation to the following organizations who have provided support for this study: the Mindanao State University-Iligan Institute of Technology through the Office of the Chancellor, the National Research Council of the Philippines and Amazon.com’s AWS Educate Educator Collaboration Portal. Also deeply appreciated is the assistance given by the International Organization for Medical Physics and the Society of Medical Physicists in the Republic of the Philippines.
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Bacala, A.M. (2019). Monte Carlo Simulation of a Linac Using PRIMO: User-Friendly Educational Tool Which Can Be Taken to the Cloud for Free. In: Lhotska, L., Sukupova, L., Lacković, I., Ibbott, G.S. (eds) World Congress on Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering 2018. IFMBE Proceedings, vol 68/1. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-9035-6_157
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-9035-6_157
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