Monte Carlo dosimetric evaluation of high energy vs low energy photon beams in low density tissues

Radiotherapy and Oncology : Journal of the European Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology
Miltiadis F TsiakalosKiki Theodorou

Abstract

Low megavoltage photon beams are often the treatment choice in radiotherapy when low density heterogeneities are involved, because higher energies show some undesirable dosimetric effects. This work is aimed at investigating the effects of different energy selection for low density tissues. BEAMnrc was used to simulate simple treatment set-ups in a simple and a CT reconstructed lung phantom and an air-channel phantom. The dose distribution of 6, 15 and 20 MV photon beams was studied using single, AP/PA and three-field arrangements. Our results showed no significant changes in the penumbra width in lung when a pair of opposed fields were used. The underdosage at the anterior/posterior tumor edge caused by the dose build-up at the lung-tumor interface reached 7% for a 5 x 5 cm AP/PA set-up. Shrinkage of the 90% isodose volume was noticed for the same set-up, which could be rectified by adding a lateral field. For the CT reconstructed phantom, the AP/PA set-up offered better tumor coverage when lower energies were used but for the three field set-up, higher energies resulted to better sparing of the lung tissue. For the air-channel set-up, adding an opposed field reduced the penumbra width. Using higher energies resulted in a 7% c...Continue Reading

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Citations

Dec 19, 2012·Medical Dosimetry : Official Journal of the American Association of Medical Dosimetrists·Slaven JurkovićDario Faj
Apr 14, 2009·Applied Radiation and Isotopes : Including Data, Instrumentation and Methods for Use in Agriculture, Industry and Medicine·Dariush SardariFarshid Babapour
Dec 2, 2008·Cancer radiothérapie : journal de la Société française de radiothérapie oncologique·I Martel-LafayJ P Suchaud
Dec 11, 2007·Radiotherapy and Oncology : Journal of the European Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology·Magdalena BazalovaFrank Verhaegen
Jul 30, 2010·Physics in Medicine and Biology·R O OttossonC F Behrens

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