This study analyses the dose difference for a variety of phantom materials that can be used for Leksell Gamma Knife. These materials have properties that are very similar to the human tissue not including the skull bone. Geant4 was employed in the analysis the dose distributions for collimator helmet sizes of 4mm and 8mm. The phantom had a radius of 80mm. Water, brain, PMMA (Poly-methyl methacrylate) and polystyrene were used as the material types. Results showed no considerable differences for radiation dosimetries depending on the material types. In addition, the polystyrene and PMMA (Poly-methyl methacrylate) phantom are also suitable for measuring the dose profiles of the Gamma Knife unit.
The purpose of our study is to develop a new, 3-dimensional dosimetry system to verify the accuracy of dose deliveries in Leksell Gamma Knife-Perfexion TM (LGKP) (Elekta, Norcross, GA, USA). The instrument consists of a moving head phantom, an embedded thin active layer and a CCD camera system and was designed to be mounted to LGKP. As an active material concentrically located in the hemispheric head phantom, we choose Gafchromic EBT3 films and Gd2O2S;Tb phosphor sheets for dosimetric measurements. Also, to compensate the lack of backscatter, we located a 1 cm thick PMMA plate downstream of th…
In this report simulations of 192Ir source located inside a phantom designed for measuring the absorbed dose and radioactive source position are presented. Monte Carlo simulations were performed and results were compared with a theoretical model that enables to determine radioactive source position. A good fit from the simulated data to the theoretical model was obtained. Results show that Monte Carlo simulations allow to evaluate source position and absorbed dose with implications in treatment planning.
Purpose: In this study, we present the creation of an anthropomorphic, head and neck, nuclear medicine phantom and its characterization for the validation of a Monte Carlo, SPECT image based, Iodine-131 RPT dosimetry workflow. Methods: 3D printing techniques were used to create the anthropomorphic phantom from a patient CT dataset. Three Iodine-131 SPECT/CT imaging studies were performed using a homogeneous, Jaszczak, and an anthropomorphic phantom to quantify the SPECT images. The impact of collimator detector response (CDR) modeling and volume-based partial volume corrections (PVC) upon the …
Monte Carlo simulation with PENELOPE (v.~2003) is applied to calculate Leksell Gamma Knife$^{\circledR}$ dose distributions for heterogeneous phantoms. The usual spherical water phantom is modified with a spherical bone shell simulating the skull and an air-filled cube simulating the frontal or maxillary sinuses. Different simulations of the 201 source configuration of the Gamma Knife have been carried out with a simplified model of the geometry of the source channel of the Gamma Knife recently tested for both single source and multisource configurations. The dose distributions determined for …
Adapting a 3D scanning water phantom for use in brachytherapy dosimetry
Royal Brisbane & Women’s Hospital(皇家布里斯班妇女医院);Herston Biofabrication Institute(赫斯顿生物制造研究所);University of Queensland(昆士兰大学);Queensland University of Technology(昆士兰科技大学)
The Monte Carlo method is widely used in the Gamma Knife dose distribution calculations. In this study, Monte-Carlo simulation with Geant4 was applied to determine Leksell Gamma Knife dose distribution for homogeneous solid water and heterogeneous brain phantoms, and primarily focused on the differences arising from the effects of inhomogeneity. The relative dose graphs were displayed for different collimator diameters. The dose values from the maximal interval regions were determined and compared. It seen that when the collimator size was 4mm, the mean maximum relative dose point was at 47mm …
The purpose of this work is to develop viable procedures for verifying the applicability of personalized dosimetry in computed tomography (CT) using Monte Carlo-based simulations. Mobile equipment together with customized software was developed and used for rapid, non-invasive determination of equivalent source models of CT scanners under clinical conditions. Standard and anthropomorphic CT dose phantoms equipped with real-time CT dose probes at five representative positions were scanned. The accumulated dose was measured during the scan at the five positions. ImpactMC, a Monte Carlo-based CT …
Experimental and computational dosimetry in an integrated workflow for remote audits in Ir-192 interstitial brachytherapy: Development and pilot implementation
Purpose: Beam range control is the essence of radiotherapy with heavy charged particles. In conventional broad-beam delivery, fine range adjustment is achieved by insertion of range shifting and compensating materials. In dosimetry, solid phantoms are often used for convenience. These materials should ideally be equivalent to water. In this study, we evaluated dosimetric water equivalence of four common plastics, HDPE, PMMA, PET, and POM. Methods: Using the Bethe formula for energy loss, the Gottschalk formula for multiple scattering, and the Sihver formula for nuclear interactions, we calcula…
The aim of the present Monte Carlo study is to evaluate the variation of energy deposition in healthy tissues in the human eye which is irradiated by brachytherapy sources in comparison with the resultant dose increase in the gold nanoparticle(GNP)-loaded choroidal melanoma. The effects of these nanoparticles on normal tissues are compared between 103Pd and 125I as two ophthalmic brachytherapy sources. Dose distribution in the tumor and healthy tissues have been taken into account for both mentioned brachytherapy sources. Also, in a certain point of the eye, the ratio of the absorbed dose by t…
Objective: This study aims to develop and validate a novel framework, iPhantom, for automated creation of patient-specific phantoms or digital-twins (DT) using patient medical images. The framework is applied to assess radiation dose to radiosensitive organs in CT imaging of individual patients. Method: From patient CT images, iPhantom segments selected anchor organs (e.g. liver, bones, pancreas) using a learning-based model developed for multi-organ CT segmentation. Organs challenging to segment (e.g. intestines) are incorporated from a matched phantom template, using a diffeomorphic registra…
The effects of gold nanoparticles in 125I brachytherapy dose enhancement on choroidal Melanoma are examined using the Monte Carlo simulation technique. Usually, Monte Carlo ophthalmic brachytherapy dosimetry is performed in a water phantom. However, here, the compositions of human eye have been considered instead of water. Both human eye and water phantoms have been simulated with MCNP5 code. These simulations were performed for a fully-loaded 16 mm COMS eye plaque containing 13 125I seeds. The dose delivered to the tumor and healthy tissues have been calculated in both phantoms, with and with…
The European Radiation Dosimetry Group, EURADOS, has organised an intercomparison study on the usage of the ICRP/ICRU voxel reference computational phantoms together with radiation transport codes. Voluntary participants have been invited to solve specific tasks and provide solutions to the organisers before a certain deadline. The tasks to be solved are of practical interest in occupational, environmental and medical dosimetry. The aims of this training activity were to investigate if the phantoms have been correctly implemented in the radiation transport codes and to give the participants th…
A simplification of the source channel geometry of the Leksell Gamma Knife$^{\circledR}$, recently proposed by the authors and checked for a single source configuration (Al-Dweri et al 2004), has been used to calculate the dose distributions along the $x$, $y$ and $z$ axes in a water phantom with a diameter of 160~mm, for different configurations of the Gamma Knife including 201, 150 and 102 unplugged sources. The code PENELOPE (v. 2001) has been used to perform the Monte Carlo simulations. In addition, the output factors for the 14, 8 and 4~mm helmets have been calculated. The results found f…
Purpose: To obtain individualized internal doses with a Monte Carlo method in patients undergoing diagnostic FCH-PET studies and to compare such doses with the MIRD method calculations. Methods: A patient cohort of 17 males were imaged after intravenous administration of a mean FCH activity of 244.3 MBq. The resulting PET/CT images were processed in order to generate individualized input source and geometry files for dose computation with the MC tool GATE. The resulting dose estimates were studied and compared to the MIRD method with two different computational phantoms. Mass correction of the…
Purpose: To investigate the validity of two Monte Carlo simulation absolute dosimetry approaches in the case of a small field dedicated `D'-shaped collimator used for the retinoblastoma treatment with external photon beam radiotherapy. Methods: The Monte Carlo code {\sc penelope} is used to simulate the linac, the dedicated collimator and a water phantom. The absolute doses (in Gy per monitor unit) for the field sizes considered are obtained within the approach of Popescu {\it et al.} in which the tallied backscattered dose in the monitor chamber is accounted for. The results are compared to e…
Combination radiopharmaceutical and external beam radiotherapy offers the potential to diminish locoregional toxicity that remains dose-limiting in the conventional treatment paradigm for recurrent head and neck cancer (HNC). In this study, we investigated the tumor targeting capacity of 131I-CLR1404 (CLR 131) in various HNC xenograft mouse models and the impact of partial volume correction on theranostic dosimetry based on 124I-CLR1404 (CLR 124) PET/CT imaging. Methods: Mice bearing flank tumor xenograft models of HNC (6 murine cell line- and 6 human patient-derived) were intravenously admini…
With X-ray radiation protection and dose management constantly gaining interest in interventional radiology, novel procedures often undergo prospective dose studies using anthropomorphic phantoms to determine expected dose values. Due to inherent uncertainties, these dose values might not allow for patient-specific risk assessment. Therefore, first the aim of this study is to quantify the influence of these parameters on local X-ray dose to evaluate their relevance in the assessment of patient-specific organ doses. Second, this knowledge further enables validating a simulation approach, which …
Purpose: A novel rotating gamma stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) system (Galaxy RTi) with real-time image guidance technology has been developed for high-precision SRS and frameless fractionated stereotactic radiotherapy (SRT). This work investigated the dosimetric quality of Galaxy by comparing both the machine treatment parameters and plan dosimetry parameters with those of the widely used Leksell Gamma Knife (LGK) systems for SRS. Methods: The Galaxy RTi system uses 30 cobalt-60 sources on a rotating gantry to deliver non-coplanar, non-overlapping arcs simultaneously while the LGK 4C uses 20…
Thermoluminescence (TL) characteristics for LiF:Mg,Cu,P, and CaSO$_4$:Dy under the homogeneous field of X-ray beams of diagnostic irradiation and its verification using thermoluminescence dosimetry is presented. The irradiation were performed utilizing a conventional X-ray equipment installed at the Hospital Juárez Norte of México. Different thermoluminescence characteristics of two material were studied, such as batch homogeneity, glow curve, linearity, detection threshold, reproducibility, relative sensitivity and fading. Materials were calibrated in terms of absorbed dose to the standard ca…