Due to limitations and uncertainties in dose calculation algorithms, different algorithms can predict different dose distributions and dose-volume histograms for the same treatment. This can be a problem when estimating the normal tissue complication probability (NTCP) for patient-specific dose distributions. Published NTCP model parameters are often derived for a different dose calculation alg...

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the accuracy and calculation speed of electron dose distributions calculated by the Eclipse electron Monte Carlo (eMC) algorithm for use with bolus electron conformal therapy (ECT). The recent com-mercial availability of bolus ECT technology requires further validation of the eMC dose calculation algorithm. eMC-calculated electron dose distributions for...

For patients with medically inoperable early-stage non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) treated with stereotactic body radiation therapy, early treatment plans were based on a simpler dose calculation algorithm, the pencil beam (PB) calculation. Because these patients had the longest treatment follow-up, identifying dose differences between the PB calculated dose and Monte Carlo calculated dose i...

Introduction: The functionality and quality of any treatment planning system (TPS) strongly depends on the type of Algorithm which is used by it. Obviously, the role of dose distribution algorithms in calculation of prescribed dose inside the tumor in modern radiotherapy techniques has more important than past to achieve the best clinical outcomes, especially in tumors which ar...

PURPOSE The main aim of this study is to validate the Acuros XB dose calculation algorithm for a Varian Clinac iX linac in our clinics, and subsequently compare it with the wildely used AAA algorithm. METHODS AND MATERIALS The source models for both Acuros XB and AAA were configured by importing the same measured beam data into Eclipse treatment planning system. Both algorithms were validated...

The analytical anisotropic algorithm (AAA) was implemented in the Eclipse (Varian Medical Systems) treatment planning system to replace the single pencil beam (SPB) algorithm for the calculation of dose distributions for photon beams. AAA was developed to improve the dose calculation accuracy, especially in heterogeneous media. The total dose deposition is calculated as the superposition of the...

An extensive set of measured data was developed for the purpose of verifying the accuracy of a photon dose-calculation algorithm. Dose distributions from a linear accelerator were measured using an ion chamber in a water phantom and thermoluminescent dosimeters in a heterogeneous anthropomorphic phantom. Test cases included square fields, rectangular fields, fields having different source-to-su...

PURPOSE The purpose of this study is to improve dose calculation accuracy of the simplified Monte Carlo (SMC) algorithm in the low-dose region. Because conventional SMC algorithms calculate particle scattering in consideration of multiple Coulomb scattering (MCS) only, they approximate lateral dose profiles by a single Gaussian function. However, it is well known that the low-dose region spread...