Sensitivity study for CT image use in Monte Carlo treatment planning

Phys Med Biol. 2005 Mar 7;50(5):937-46. doi: 10.1088/0031-9155/50/5/016. Epub 2005 Feb 17.

Abstract

An important step in Monte Carlo treatment planning (MCTP), which is commonly performed uncritically, is segmentation of the patient CT data into a voxel phantom for dose calculation. In addition to assigning mass densities to voxels, as is done in conventional TP, this entails assigning media. Mis-assignment of media can potentially lead to significant dose errors in MCTP. In this work, a test phantom with exact-known composition was used to study CT segmentation errors and to quantify subsequent MCTP inaccuracies. For our test cases, we observed dose errors in some regions of up to 10% for 6 and 15 MV photons, more than 30% for an 18 MeV electron beam and more than 40% for 250 kVp photons. It is concluded that a careful CT calibration with a suitable phantom is essential. Generic calibrations and the use of commercial CT phantoms have to be critically assessed.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Calibration
  • Electrons
  • Humans
  • Models, Statistical
  • Monte Carlo Method
  • Phantoms, Imaging
  • Photons
  • Radiometry
  • Radiotherapy Dosage
  • Radiotherapy Planning, Computer-Assisted / methods*
  • Radiotherapy, Conformal / methods
  • Sensitivity and Specificity
  • Software
  • Tomography, X-Ray Computed / methods*