The purpose of this study is to evaluate the accuracy of the electron Monte Carlo (eMC) dose calculation algorithm included in a commercial treatment planning system and compare its performance against an electron pencil beam algorithm. Several tests were performed to explore the system's behavior in simple geometries and in configurations encountered in clinical practice. The first series of t...

A method to verify the monitor units for a treatment plan is to calculate point doses, possibly at the isocentre, by using a simple calculation method. This verification is recommended to find mistakes in the treatment plan. Treatment plans for intensity modulated radiation therapy are no exception. The method should employ a simple physical model and a dose calculation algorithm, which is diff...

background: the dosimetric performance of eclipse 6.5 three dimensional treatment planning system (3dtps) is evaluated by comparing the calculated and measured dose in two dimensions following the guide lines of american association for physicists in medicine task group 53. materials and methods: the calculations were performed by the 3dtps for symmetric as well as asymmetric fields for standar...

Intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) provides the protection of the normal organs and a precise treatment plan through its optimization process. However, the final dose-volume histogram (DVH) obtained by this technique differs from the optimal DVH, owing to optimization convergence errors. Herein, intermediate dose calculation was applied to IMRT plans during the optimization process to...

Deterministic linear Boltzmann transport equation (D-LBTE) solvers have recently been developed, and one of the latest available software codes, Acuros XB, has been implemented in a commercial treatment planning system for radiotherapy photon beam dose calculation. One of the major limitations of most commercially available model-based algorithms for photon dose calculation is the ability to ac...

TRiP98, a treatment planning program, was used in the pilot project of heavy ion radiotherapy with scanned ion beams at GSI [1]. Over 400 patients were treated from 1997 to 2008 [2]. Currently TRiP98 is used for research purposes. One big part of the actual research is to make TRiP98 able to handle 4D data sets [3]. This is needed for the treatment of moving tumors (like lung tumors). Due to th...

Online adaptive radiation therapy (ART) is an attractive concept that promises the ability to deliver an optimal treatment in response to the inter-fraction variability in patient anatomy. However, it has yet to be realized due to technical limitations. Fast dose deposit coefficient calculation is a critical component of the online planning process that is required for plan optimization of inte...

Impact of the various kVp settings used during computed tomography (CT) simulation that provides data for heterogeneity corrected dose distribution calculations in patients undergoing external beam radiotherapy with either high-energy photon or electron beams have been investigated. The change of the Hounsfield Unit (HU) values due to the influence of kVp settings and geometrical distribution o...