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PRIMO: A graphical environment for the Monte Carlo simulation of Varian and Elekta linacs

PRIMO: Eine graphische Benutzeroberfläche für Monte-Carlo-Simulationen von Varian- und Elekta-Linearbeschleunigern

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Abstract

Background

The accurate Monte Carlo simulation of a linac requires a detailed description of its geometry and the application of elaborate variance-reduction techniques for radiation transport. Both tasks entail a substantial coding effort and demand advanced knowledge of the intricacies of the Monte Carlo system being used.

Methods

PRIMO, a new Monte Carlo system that allows the effortless simulation of most Varian and Elekta linacs, including their multileaf collimators and electron applicators, is introduced. PRIMO combines (1) accurate physics from the PENELOPE code, (2) dedicated variance-reduction techniques that significantly reduce the computation time, and (3) a user-friendly graphical interface with tools for the analysis of the generated data. PRIMO can tally dose distributions in phantoms and computerized tomographies, handle phase-space files in IAEA format, and import structures (planning target volumes, organs at risk) in the DICOM RT-STRUCT standard.

Results

A prostate treatment, conformed with a high definition Millenium multileaf collimator (MLC 120HD) from a Varian Clinac 2100 C/D, is presented as an example. The computation of the dose distribution in 1.86 × 3.00 × 1.86 mm3 voxels with an average 2 % standard statistical uncertainty, performed on an eight-core Intel Xeon at 2.67 GHz, took 1.8 h—excluding the patient-independent part of the linac, which required 3.8 h but it is simulated only once.

Conclusion

PRIMO is a self-contained user-friendly system that facilitates the Monte Carlo simulation of dose distributions produced by most currently available linacs. This opens the door for routine use of Monte Carlo in clinical research and quality assurance purposes. It is free software that can be downloaded from http://www.primoproject.net.

Zusammenfassung

Hintergrund

Eine korrekte Monte-Carlo-Simulation eines Linearbeschleunigers erfordert die detaillierte Beschreibung von dessen Geometrie und die Anwendung optimierter varianzreduzierender Techniken zur Simulation des Strahlungstransports. Beide Aufgaben sind mit erheblichem Programmieraufwand verbunden und setzen genaue Kenntnisse von Kodierungdetails des verwendeten Monte-Carlo-Programms voraus.

Methodik

PRIMO, die hier erstmalig vorgestellte Monte-Carlo-Benutzeroberfläche erlaubt mit wenig Aufwand die Simulation der meisten Linearbeschleuniger der Firmen Varian und Elekta, einschließlich ihrer Lamellenkollimatoren und Elektronentubusse. PRIMO kombiniert (1) die exakte Physik des PENELOPE-Kodes, (2) ausgesuchte und für diese spezielle Anwendung entwickelte varianzreduzierende Techniken, die erheblich die Rechenzeit verkürzen und (3) eine nutzerfreundliche graphische Benutzeroberfläche mit einfach zu bedienenden Werkzeugen zur Analyse der Simulationsergebnisse. PRIMO berechnet Dosisverteilungen in Phantomen ebenso wie in Computertomographien von Patienten, handhabt Phasenraumdateien („phase-space files“) im IAEA-Format und importiert Strukturen (wie Zielvolumina und Risikoorgane) im DICOM-RT-STRUCT-Standard.

Ergebnisse

Die Benutzeroberfläche wird am Beispiel einer Prostatabestrahlung mit dem feinzeichnenden Millenium-Lamellenkollimator (MLC 120HD) an einem Varian Clinac 2100 C/D vorgestellt. Die Berechnung der Dosisverteilung bei einer Voxelgröße von 1,86 × 3,00 × 1,86 mm3 mit einer durchschnittlichen statistischen Unsicherheit von 2 % benötigt mit einem 8-Kern-Intel-Xeon 2,67 GHz Prozessor 1,8 h. Darin ist die Simulation des nichtpatientenspezifischen Teils des Linearbeschleunigers allerdings nicht eingeschlossen, wofür einmalig 3,8 h benötigt werden.

Schlussfolgerung

PRIMO ist eine in sich abgeschlossene, eigenständige, nutzerfreundliche Bedienungsoberfläche, die eine einfache Durchführung exakter Monte-Carlo-Simulationen der Dosisverteilungen der meisten gängigen medizinischen Linearbeschleuniger erlaubt. Damit wird erstmalig die Möglichkeit eröffnet, im klinischen Alltag Monte-Carlo-Simulationen zu Forschungszwecken und zur Qualitätskontrolle einzusetzen. Die Software steht zum gebührenfreien Download auf http://www.primoproject.net.

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Acknowledgments

The authors gratefully acknowledge Varian Medical Systems International AG (Zug, Switzerland) and Elekta Limited (Crawley, United Kingdom) for authorizing the distribution of the encoded geometry files related to their linac models. The authors are grateful to Prof. Dr. med. Wolfgang Sauerwein (Universitätsklinikum Essen) for his continued support and efforts that have helped in making the distribution of PRIMO feasible. JS thanks the Spanish Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (project no. FIS2012-38480). LB acknowledges financial support from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft project BR 4043/1-1.

Compliance with ethical guideliines

Conflict of interest. M. Rodriguez, J. Sempau, and L. Brualla state that there is no conflict of interest.

The accompanying manuscript does not include studies on humans or animals.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institut de Tècniques Energètiques, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Diagonal 647, 08028, Barcelona, Spain

    M. Rodriguez & J. Sempau

  2. NCTeam, Strahlenklinik, Universitätsklinikum Essen, Essen, Germany

    L. Brualla

Authors
  1. M. Rodriguez
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  2. J. Sempau
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  3. L. Brualla
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Correspondence to M. Rodriguez.

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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). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00066-013-0415-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00066-013-0415-1

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