The OpenGATE ecosystem for Monte Carlo simulation in medical physics

David Sarrut; Nicolas Arbor; Thomas Baudier; Damian Borys; Ane Etxebeste; Hermann Fuchs; Jan Gajewski; Loïc Grevillot; Sébastien Jan; George C Kagadis; Han Gyu Kang; Assen Kirov; Olga Kochebina; Wojciech Krzemien; Antony Lomax; Panagiotis Papadimitroulas; Christian Pommranz; Emilie Roncali; Antoni Rucinski; Carla Winterhalter; Lydia Maigne

doi:10.1088/1361-6560/ac8c83

The OpenGATE ecosystem for Monte Carlo simulation in medical physics

Phys Med Biol. 2022 Sep 8;67(18). doi: 10.1088/1361-6560/ac8c83.

Authors

David Sarrut¹, Nicolas Arbor², Thomas Baudier¹, Damian Borys³, Ane Etxebeste¹, Hermann Fuchs^{4

5}, Jan Gajewski⁶, Loïc Grevillot⁴, Sébastien Jan⁷, George C Kagadis⁸, Han Gyu Kang⁹, Assen Kirov¹⁰, Olga Kochebina⁷, Wojciech Krzemien^{11

12

13}, Antony Lomax^{14

15}, Panagiotis Papadimitroulas¹⁶, Christian Pommranz^{17

18}, Emilie Roncali¹⁹, Antoni Rucinski⁶, Carla Winterhalter^{14

15}, Lydia Maigne²⁰

Affiliations

¹ Université de Lyon; CREATIS; CNRS UMR5220; Inserm U1294; INSA-Lyon; Université Lyon 1, Léon Bérard cancer center, Lyon, France.
² Université de Strasbourg, IPHC, CNRS, UMR7178, F-67037 Strasbourg, France.
³ Department of Systems Biology and Engineering, Silesian University of Technology, Gliwice, Poland.
⁴ MedAustron Ion Therapy Center, Wiener Neustadt, Austria.
⁵ Medical University of Vienna, Department of Radiation Oncology, Vienna, Vienna, Währinger Gürtel 18-20, A-1090 Wien, Austria.
⁶ Institute of Nuclear Physics Polish Academy of Sciences, Krakow, Poland.
⁷ Université Paris-Saclay, Inserm, CNRS, CEA, Laboratoire d'Imagerie Biomédicale Multimodale (BioMaps), F-91401 Orsay, France.
⁸ 3DMI Research Group, Department of Medical Physics, School of Medicine, University of Patras, Patras, Greece.
⁹ National Institutes for Quantum Science and Technology (QST), 4-9-1 Anagawa, Inage-ku, Chiba 263-8555, Japan.
¹⁰ Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer, New York, NY 10021, United States of America.
¹¹ High Energy Physics Division, National Centre for Nuclear Research, Otwock-Świerk, Poland.
¹² Faculty of Physics, Astronomy and Applied Computer Science, Jagiellonian University, S. Lojasiewicza 11, 30-348 Krakow, Poland.
¹³ Centre for Theranostics, Jagiellonian University, Kopernika 40 St, 31 501 Krakow, Poland.
¹⁴ Center for Proton Therapy, PSI, Switzerland.
¹⁵ Department of Physics, ETH Zurich, Switzerland.
¹⁶ Bioemission Technology Solutions IKE, BIOEMTECH, Athens, Greece.
¹⁷ Werner Siemens Imaging Center, Department of Preclinical Imaging and Radiopharmacy, Eberhard Karls University Tuebingen, Roentgenweg 13, D-72076 Tuebingen, Germany.
¹⁸ Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics, Eberhard Karls University Tuebingen, Sand 1, D-72076 Tuebingen, Germany.
¹⁹ University of California Davis, Departments of Biomedical Engineering and Radiology, Davis, CA 95616, United States of America.
²⁰ Université Clermont Auvergne, Laboratoire de Physique de Clermont, CNRS, UMR 6533, F-63178 Aubière, France.

PMID: 36001985
DOI: 10.1088/1361-6560/ac8c83

Abstract

This paper reviews the ecosystem of GATE, an open-source Monte Carlo toolkit for medical physics. Based on the shoulders of Geant4, the principal modules (geometry, physics, scorers) are described with brief descriptions of some key concepts (Volume, Actors, Digitizer). The main source code repositories are detailed together with the automated compilation and tests processes (Continuous Integration). We then described how the OpenGATE collaboration managed the collaborative development of about one hundred developers during almost 20 years. The impact of GATE on medical physics and cancer research is then summarized, and examples of a few key applications are given. Finally, future development perspectives are indicated.

Keywords: Gate; Geant4; Monte Carlo; simulation.

Publication types

Review
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Computer Simulation
Ecosystem*
Monte Carlo Method
Physics
Software*