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Title: Application of the TITAN Hybrid Deterministic Transport Code to Medical Physics - Paper 118

Conference ·
OSTI ID:23082937
;  [1];  [2]
  1. Nuclear Engineering Program, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Virginia Tech, 900 N Glebe Rd., Arlington, Virginia (United States)
  2. Nuclear and Radiological Engineering and Medical Physics Program, Georgia Tech, 770 State Street, Atlanta, Georgia (United States)

The TITAN code is a 3-dimensional parallel deterministic transport code that solves the linear Boltzmann equation. The TITAN code has hybrid algorithms that are ideal for medical physics applications: i) SN and characteristics method and ii) SN with a fictitious quadrature set and ray-tracing. These hybrid algorithms have been used in the simulation of computed tomography (CT) and single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) In this paper, the hybrid algorithms developed for medical physics applications in the TITAN code are discussed. First, the TITAN code's block-oriented approach for utilizing SN and characteristic solvers for CT is presented and results for a simple test case are given. Second, the paper describes a hybrid formulation for SPECT with an SN solver in the phantom, a fictitious quadrature set for directions from the phantom surface passing through the collimator, and a simplified ray-tracing algorithm for particle transport to the detector. Finally, ongoing work is described and concluding remarks are given. The TITAN code's hybrid algorithms allow it to efficiently solve problems with low-scatter regions, which are frequently found in medical physics applications. The TITAN code has been used to solve a simplified CT problem and generate projection images for SPECT simulations. The WCOS technique was developed to improve the TITAN code's collimator representation. For these applications, the TITAN code was shown to require significantly less computation time than MCNP5. Work is currently underway to implement an iterative image reconstruction algorithm in the TITAN code. A script that calls the TITAN code to complete the forward projection step in SPECT has already been used to reconstruction a 2-dimensional phantom. The ability of TITAN to fully model particle transport in the patient in short computation times is expected to be a great advantage to iterative reconstruction. (authors)

Research Organization:
American Nuclear Society - ANS, 555 North Kensington Avenue, La Grange Park, IL 60526 (United States)
OSTI ID:
23082937
Resource Relation:
Conference: RPSD 2014: 18. Topical Meeting of the Radiation Protection and Shielding Division of ANS, Knoxville, TN (United States), 14-18 Sep 2014; Other Information: Country of input: France; 8 refs.; available on CD Rom from American Nuclear Society - ANS, 555 North Kensington Avenue, La Grange Park, IL 60526 (US)
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English