Hybrid dose calculation: a dose calculation algorithm for microbeam radiation therapy.

Hybrid dose calculation: a dose calculation algorithm for microbeam radiation therapy. Phys Med Biol. 2018 Jan 11;: Authors: Donzelli M, Brauer-Krisch E, Oelfke U, Wilkens JJ, Bartzsch S Abstract Microbeam Radiation Therapy (MRT) is a still preclinical approach in radiation oncology that uses planar micrometre wide beamlets with extremely high peak doses, separated by a few hundred micrometre wide low dose regions. Abundant preclinical evidence demonstrates that MRT spares normal tissue more effectively than conventional radiation therapy, at equivalent tumour control. In order to launch first clinical trials, accurate and efficient dose calculation methods are an inevitable prerequisite. 
 
 In this work a hybrid dose calculation approach is presented which is based on a combination of Monte Carlo and kernel based dose calculation. In various examples the performance of the algorithm is compared to purely Monte Carlo and purely kernel based dose calculations. 
 
 The accuracy of the developed algorithm is comparable to conventional pure Monte Carlo calculations. In particular for inhomogeneous materials the hybrid dose calculation algorithm out-performs purely convolution based dose calculation approaches. It is demonstrated that the hybrid algorithm can efficiently calculate even complicated pencilbeam and cross firing beam geometries. Required calculation times are substantially lower than for pure ...
Source: Physics in Medicine and Biology - Category: Physics Authors: Tags: Phys Med Biol Source Type: research