Monte Carlo Simulations Of The Dose Distributions From Carbon Microbeams Used In An Experimental Radiation Therapy Method

Journal Article · Wed Jun 01 00:00:00 EDT 2011 · AIP Conference Proceedings

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.3586130· OSTI ID:21513388

Dioszegi, I ^[1]; Rusek, A; Chiang, I H ^[2]; Dane, B R ^[3]; Meek, A G ^[4]; Dilmanian, F A ^[4]

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1. Nonproliferation and National Security Department, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, New York 11973 (United States)
2. NASA Space Radiation Laboratory, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, NY 11973 (United States)
3. Medical School, State University of New York at Stony Brook, Stony Brook, NY 11794 (United States)
4. Department of Radiation Oncology, State University of New York at Stony Brook, Stony Brook, NY 11794 (United States)

Recent upgrades of the MCNPX Monte Carlo code include transport of heavy ions. We employed the new code to simulate the energy and dose distributions produced by carbon beams in rabbit's head in and around a brain tumor. The work was within our experimental technique of interlaced carbon microbeams, which uses two 90 deg. arrays of parallel, thin planes of carbon beams (microbeams) interlacing to produce a solid beam at the target. A similar version of the method was earlier developed with synchrotron-generated x-ray microbeams. We first simulated the Bragg peak in high density polyethylene and other materials, where we could compare the calculated carbon energy deposition to the measured data produced at the NASA Space Radiation Laboratory (NSRL) at Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL). The results showed that new MCNPX code gives a reasonable account of the carbon beam's dose up to {approx}200 MeV/nucleon beam energy. At higher energies, which were not relevant to our project, the model failed to reproduce the Bragg-peak's extent of increasing nuclear breakup tail. In our model calculations we determined the dose distribution along the beam path, including the angular straggling of the microbeams, and used the data for determining the optimal values of beam spacing in the array for producing adequate beam interlacing at the target. We also determined, for the purpose of Bragg-peak spreading at the target, the relative beam intensities of the consecutive exposures with stepwise lower beam energies, and simulated the resulting dose distribution in the spread out Bragg-peak. The details of the simulation methods used and the results obtained are presented.

• OSTI ID: 21513388
• Journal Information: AIP Conference Proceedings, Vol. 1336, Issue 1; Conference: CAARI 2010: 21. International Conference on the Application of Accelerators in Research and Industry, Fort Worth, TX (United States), 8-13 Aug 2010; Other Information: DOI: 10.1063/1.3586130; (c) 2011 American Institute of Physics; ISSN 0094-243X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

62 RADIOLOGY AND NUCLEAR MEDICINE
BNL
BRAGG CURVE
BRAIN
CARBON IONS
COMPARATIVE EVALUATIONS
COMPUTERIZED SIMULATION
DENSITY
HEAD
HEAVY IONS
MEV RANGE 100-1000
MONTE CARLO METHOD
NEOPLASMS
NUCLEON BEAMS
NUCLEONS
POLYETHYLENES
RABBITS
RADIATION DOSE DISTRIBUTIONS
RADIOTHERAPY
SURGERY
X RADIATION
ANIMALS
BARYONS
BEAMS
BODY
CALCULATION METHODS
CENTRAL NERVOUS SYSTEM
CHARGED PARTICLES
DIAGRAMS
DISEASES
ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION
ELEMENTARY PARTICLES
ENERGY RANGE
EVALUATION
FERMIONS
HADRONS
INFORMATION
IONIZING RADIATIONS
IONS
MAMMALS
MEDICINE
MEV RANGE
NATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
NERVOUS SYSTEM
NUCLEAR MEDICINE
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
ORGANIC POLYMERS
ORGANS
PARTICLE BEAMS
PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
POLYMERS
POLYOLEFINS
RADIATIONS
RADIOLOGY
SIMULATION
THERAPY
US AEC
US DOE
US ERDA
US ORGANIZATIONS
VERTEBRATES