Development of a randomized 3D cell model for Monte Carlo microdosimetry simulations
- School of Chemistry and Physics, University of Adelaide, North Terrace, Adelaide 5005, South Australia (Australia) and Department of Medical Physics, Royal Adelaide Hospital, North Terrace, Adelaide 5000, South Australia (Australia)
Purpose: The objective of the current work was to develop an algorithm for growing a macroscopic tumor volume from individual randomized quasi-realistic cells. The major physical and chemical components of the cell need to be modeled. It is intended to import the tumor volume into GEANT4 (and potentially other Monte Carlo packages) to simulate ionization events within the cell regions. Methods: A MATLAB Copyright-Sign code was developed to produce a tumor coordinate system consisting of individual ellipsoidal cells randomized in their spatial coordinates, sizes, and rotations. An eigenvalue method using a mathematical equation to represent individual cells was used to detect overlapping cells. GEANT4 code was then developed to import the coordinate system into GEANT4 and populate it with individual cells of varying sizes and composed of the membrane, cytoplasm, reticulum, nucleus, and nucleolus. Each region is composed of chemically realistic materials. Results: The in-house developed MATLAB Copyright-Sign code was able to grow semi-realistic cell distributions ({approx}2 Multiplication-Sign 10{sup 8} cells in 1 cm{sup 3}) in under 36 h. The cell distribution can be used in any number of Monte Carlo particle tracking toolkits including GEANT4, which has been demonstrated in this work. Conclusions: Using the cell distribution and GEANT4, the authors were able to simulate ionization events in the individual cell components resulting from 80 keV gamma radiation (the code is applicable to other particles and a wide range of energies). This virtual microdosimetry tool will allow for a more complete picture of cell damage to be developed.
- OSTI ID:
- 22098883
- Journal Information:
- Medical Physics, Vol. 39, Issue 6; Other Information: (c) 2012 American Association of Physicists in Medicine; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0094-2405
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
Microdosimetric study on influence of low energy photons on relative biological effectiveness under therapeutic conditions using 6 MV linac
Applied stochastic microdosimetry of internal alpha emitters