| 1. |
|
|
| 2. |
- Ballester, Facundo, et al.
(författare)
-
A generic high-dose rate Ir-192 brachytherapy source for evaluation of model-based dose calculations beyond the TG-43 formalism
- 2015
-
Ingår i: Medical physics (Lancaster). - : American Association of Physicists in Medicine: Medical Physics. - 0094-2405. ; 42:6, s. 3048-3062
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Purpose: In order to facilitate a smooth transition for brachytherapy dose calculations from the American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM) Task Group No. 43 (TG-43) formalism to model-based dose calculation algorithms (MBDCAs), treatment planning systems (TPSs) using a MBDCA require a set of well-defined test case plans characterized by Monte Carlo (MC) methods. This also permits direct dose comparison to TG-43 reference data. Such test case plans should be made available for use in the software commissioning process performed by clinical end users. To this end, a hypothetical, generic high-dose rate (HDR) Ir-192 source and a virtual water phantom were designed, which can be imported into a TPS. Methods: A hypothetical, generic HDR Ir-192 source was designed based on commercially available sources as well as a virtual, cubic water phantom that can be imported into any TPS in DICOM format. The dose distribution of the generic Ir-192 source when placed at the center of the cubic phantom, and away from the center under altered scatter conditions, was evaluated using two commercial MBDCAs [Oncentra (R) Brachy with advanced collapsed-cone engine (ACE) and BrachyVision AcuRos (TM)]. Dose comparisons were performed using state-of-the-art MC codes for radiation transport, including ALGEBRA, BrachyDose, GEANT4, MCNP5, MCNP6, and pENELopE2008. The methodologies adhered to recommendations in the AAPM TG-229 report on high-energy brachytherapy source dosimetry. TG-43 dosimetry parameters, an along-away dose-rate table, and primary and scatter separated (PSS) data were obtained. The virtual water phantom of (201)(3) voxels (1 mm sides) was used to evaluate the calculated dose distributions. Two test case plans involving a single position of the generic HDR Ir-192 source in this phantom were prepared: (i) source centered in the phantom and (ii) source displaced 7 cm laterally from the center. Datasets were independently produced by different investigators. MC results were then compared against dose calculated using TG-43 and MBDCA methods. Results: TG-43 and PSS datasets were generated for the generic source, the PSS data for use with the ACE algorithm. The dose-rate constant values obtained from seven MC simulations, performed independently using different codes, were in excellent agreement, yielding an average of 1.1109 +/- 0.0004 cGy/(h U) (k = 1, Type A uncertainty). MC calculated dose-rate distributions for the two plans were also found to be in excellent agreement, with differences within type A uncertainties. Differences between commercial MBDCA and MC results were test, position, and calculation parameter dependent. On average, however, these differences were within 1% for ACUROS and 2% for ACE at clinically relevant distances. Conclusions: A hypothetical, generic HDR Ir-192 source was designed and implemented in two commercially available TPSs employing different MBDCAs. Reference dose distributions for this source were benchmarked and used for the evaluation of MBDCA calculations employing a virtual, cubic water phantom in the form of a CT DICOM image series. The implementation of a generic source of identical design in all TPSs using MBDCAs is an important step toward supporting univocal commissioning procedures and direct comparisons between TPSs. (C) 2015 American Association of Physicists in Medicine.
|
|
| 3. |
- Beaulieu, Luc, et al.
(författare)
-
AAPM WGDCAB Report 372: A joint AAPM, ESTRO, ABG, and ABS report on commissioning of model-based dose calculation algorithms in brachytherapy
- 2023
-
Ingår i: Medical physics (Lancaster). - : WILEY. - 0094-2405. ; 50:8, s. E946-E960
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The introduction of model-based dose calculation algorithms (MBDCAs) in brachytherapy provides an opportunity for a more accurate dose calculation and opens the possibility for novel, innovative treatment modalities. The joint AAPM, ESTRO, and ABG Task Group 186 (TG-186) report provided guidance to early adopters. However, the commissioning aspect of these algorithms was described only in general terms with no quantitative goals. This report, from the Working Group on Model-Based Dose Calculation Algorithms in Brachytherapy, introduced a field-tested approach to MBDCA commissioning. It is based on a set of well-characterized test cases for which reference Monte Carlo (MC) and vendor-specific MBDCA dose distributions are available in a Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine-Radiotherapy (DICOM-RT) format to the clinical users. The key elements of the TG-186 commissioning workflow are now described in detail, and quantitative goals are provided. This approach leverages the well-known Brachytherapy Source Registry jointly managed by the AAPM and the Imaging and Radiation Oncology Core (IROC) Houston Quality Assurance Center (with associated links at ESTRO) to provide open access to test cases as well as step-by-step user guides. While the current report is limited to the two most widely commercially available MBDCAs and only for Ir-192-based afterloading brachytherapy at this time, this report establishes a general framework that can easily be extended to other brachytherapy MBDCAs and brachytherapy sources. The AAPM, ESTRO, ABG, and ABS recommend that clinical medical physicists implement the workflow presented in this report to validate both the basic and the advanced dose calculation features of their commercial MBDCAs. Recommendations are also given to vendors to integrate advanced analysis tools into their brachytherapy treatment planning system to facilitate extensive dose comparisons. The use of the test cases for research and educational purposes is further encouraged.
|
|
| 4. |
- Beaulieu, Luc, et al.
(författare)
-
Report of the Task Group 186 on model-based dose calculation methods in brachytherapy beyond the TG-43 formalism : Current status and recommendations for clinical implementation
- 2012
-
Ingår i: Medical physics (Lancaster). - : American Association of Physicists in Medicine. - 0094-2405. ; 39:10, s. 6208-6236
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The charge of Task Group 186 (TG-186) is to provide guidance for early adopters of model-based dose calculation algorithms (MBDCAs) for brachytherapy (BT) dose calculations to ensure practice uniformity. Contrary to external beam radiotherapy, heterogeneity correction algorithms have only recently been made available to the BT community. Yet, BT dose calculation accuracy is highly dependent on scatter conditions and photoelectric effect cross-sections relative to water. In specific situations, differences between the current water-based BT dose calculation formalism (TG-43) and MBDCAs can lead to differences in calculated doses exceeding a factor of 10. MBDCAs raise three major issues that are not addressed by current guidance documents: (1) MBDCA calculated doses are sensitive to the dose specification medium, resulting in energy-dependent differences between dose calculated to water in a homogeneous water geometry (TG-43), dose calculated to the local medium in the heterogeneous medium, and the intermediate scenario of dose calculated to a small volume of water in the heterogeneous medium. (2) MBDCA doses are sensitive to voxel-by-voxel interaction cross sections. Neither conventional single-energy CT nor ICRU∕ICRP tissue composition compilations provide useful guidance for the task of assigning interaction cross sections to each voxel. (3) Since each patient-source-applicator combination is unique, having reference data for each possible combination to benchmark MBDCAs is an impractical strategy. Hence, a new commissioning process is required. TG-186 addresses in detail the above issues through the literature review and provides explicit recommendations based on the current state of knowledge. TG-43-based dose prescription and dose calculation remain in effect, with MBDCA dose reporting performed in parallel when available. In using MBDCAs, it is recommended that the radiation transport should be performed in the heterogeneous medium and, at minimum, the dose to the local medium be reported along with the TG-43 calculated doses. Assignments of voxel-by-voxel cross sections represent a particular challenge. Electron density information is readily extracted from CT imaging, but cannot be used to distinguish between different materials having the same density. Therefore, a recommendation is made to use a number of standardized materials to maintain uniformity across institutions. Sensitivity analysis shows that this recommendation offers increased accuracy over TG-43. MBDCA commissioning will share commonalities with current TG-43-based systems, but in addition there will be algorithm-specific tasks. Two levels of commissioning are recommended: reproducing TG-43 dose parameters and testing the advanced capabilities of MBDCAs. For validation of heterogeneity and scatter conditions, MBDCAs should mimic the 3D dose distributions from reference virtual geometries. Potential changes in BT dose prescriptions and MBDCA limitations are discussed. When data required for full MBDCA implementation are insufficient, interim recommendations are made and potential areas of research are identified. Application of TG-186 guidance should retain practice uniformity in transitioning from the TG-43 to the MBDCA approach.
|
|
| 5. |
- Carlsson Tedgren, Åsa, et al.
(författare)
-
The collapsed cone algorithm for Ir-192 dosimetry using phantom-size adaptive multiple-scatter point kernels
- 2015
-
Ingår i: Physics in Medicine and Biology. - : IOP Publishing. - 0031-9155 .- 1361-6560. ; 60:13, s. 5313-5323
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The aim of this work was to investigate how dose distributions calculated with the collapsed cone (CC) algorithm depend on the size of the water phantom used in deriving the point kernel for multiple scatter. A research version of the CC algorithm equipped with a set of selectable point kernels for multiple-scatter dose that had initially been derived in water phantoms of various dimensions was used. The new point kernels were generated using EGSnrc in spherical water phantoms of radii 5 cm, 7.5 cm, 10 cm, 15 cm, 20 cm, 30 cm and 50 cm. Dose distributions derived with CC in water phantoms of different dimensions and in a CT-based clinical breast geometry were compared to Monte Carlo (MC) simulations using the Geant4-based brachytherapy specific MC code Algebra. Agreement with MC within 1% was obtained when the dimensions of the phantom used to derive the multiple-scatter kernel were similar to those of the calculation phantom. Doses are overestimated at phantom edges when kernels are derived in larger phantoms and underestimated when derived in smaller phantoms (by around 2% to 7% depending on distance from source and phantom dimensions). CC agrees well with MC in the high dose region of a breast implant and is superior to TG43 in determining skin doses for all multiple-scatter point kernel sizes. Increased agreement between CC and MC is achieved when the point kernel is comparable to breast dimensions. The investigated approximation in multiple scatter dose depends on the choice of point kernel in relation to phantom size and yields a significant fraction of the total dose only at distances of several centimeters from a source/implant which correspond to volumes of low doses. The current implementation of the CC algorithm utilizes a point kernel derived in a comparatively large (radius 20 cm) water phantom. A fixed point kernel leads to predictable behaviour of the algorithm with the worst case being a source/implant located well within a patient/phantom for which low doses at phantom edges can be overestimated by 2-5 %. It would be possible to improve the situation by using a point kernel for multiple-scatter dose adapted to the patient/phantom dimensions at hand.
|
|
| 6. |
- Enger, Shirin A., et al.
(författare)
-
Dose to tissue medium or water cavities as surrogate for the dose to cell nuclei at brachytherapy photon energies
- 2012
-
Ingår i: Physics in Medicine and Biology. - : IOP Publishing. - 0031-9155 .- 1361-6560. ; 57:14, s. 4489-4500
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- It has been suggested that modern dose calculation algorithms should be able to report absorbed dose both as dose to the local medium, D-m,D-m, and as dose to a water cavity embedded in the medium, D-w,D-m, using conversion factors from cavity theory. Assuming that the cell nucleus with its DNA content is the most important target for biological response, the aim of this study is to investigate, by means of Monte Carlo (MC) simulations, the relationship of the dose to a cell nucleus in a medium, D-n,D-m, to D-m,D-m and D-w,D-m, for different combinations of cell nucleus compositions and tissue media for different photon energies used in brachytherapy. As D-n,D-m is very impractical to calculate directly for routine treatment planning, while D-m,D-m and D-w,D-m are much easier to obtain, the questions arise which one of these quantities is the best surrogate for D-n,D-m and which cavity theory assumptions should one use for its estimate. The Geant4.9.4 MC code was used to calculate D-m,D-m, D-w,D-m and D-n,D-m for photon energies from 20 (representing the lower energy end of brachytherapy for Pd-103 or I-125) to 300 keV (close to the mean energy of Ir-192) and for the tissue media adipose, breast, prostate and muscle. To simulate the cell and its nucleus, concentric spherical cavities were placed inside a cubic phantom (10 x 10 x 10 mm(3)). The diameter of the simulated nuclei was set to 14 mu m. For each tissue medium, three different setups were simulated; (a) D-n,D-m was calculated with nuclei embedded in tissues (MC-D-n,D-m). Four different published elemental compositions of cell nuclei were used. (b) D-w,D-m was calculated with MC (MC-D-w,D-m) and compared with large cavity theory calculated D-w,D-m (LCT-D-w,D-m), and small cavity theory calculated D-w,D-m (SCT-D-w,D-m). (c) D-m,D-m was calculated with MC (MC-D-m,D-m). MC-D-w,D-m is a good substitute for MC-D-n,D-m for all photon energies and for all simulated nucleus compositions and tissue types. SCT-D-w,D-m can be used for most energies in brachytherapy, while LCT-D-w,D-m should only be considered for source spectra well below 50 keV, since contributions to the absorbed dose inside the nucleus to a large degree stem from electrons released in the surrounding medium. MC-D-m,D-m is not an appropriate substitute for MC-D-n,D-m for the lowest photon energies for adipose and breast tissues. The ratio of MC-D-m,D-m to MC-D-n,D-m for adipose and breast tissue deviates from unity by 34% and 15% respectively for the lowest photon energy (20 keV), whereas the ratio is close to unity for higher energies. For prostate and muscle tissue MC-D-m,D-m is a good substitute for MC-D-n,D-m. However, for all photon energies and tissue types the nucleus composition with the highest hydrogen content behaves differently than other compositions. Elemental compositions of the tissue and nuclei affect considerably the absorbed dose to the cell nuclei for brachytherapy sources, in particular those at the low-energy end of the spectrum. Thus, there is a need for more accurate data for the elemental compositions of tumours and healthy cells. For the nucleus compositions and tissue types investigated, MC-D-w,D-m is a good substitute to MC-D-n,D-m for all simulated photon energies. Whether other studied surrogates are good approximations to MC-D-n,D-m depends on the target size, target composition, composition of the surrounding tissue and photon energy.
|
|
| 7. |
- Enger, Shirin A., et al.
(författare)
-
Exploring Co-57 as a new isotope for brachytherapy applications
- 2012
-
Ingår i: Medical physics (Lancaster). - : Wiley. - 0094-2405. ; 39:5, s. 2342-2345
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Purpose: The characteristics of the radionuclide Co-57 make it interesting for use as a brachytherapy source. Co-57 combines a possible high specific activity with the emission of relatively low-energy photons and a half-life (272 days) suitable for regular source exchanges in an afterloader. Co-57 decays by electron capture to the stable Fe-57 with emission of 136 and 122 keV photons. Methods: A hypothetical Co-57 source based on the Flexisource brachytherapy encapsulation with the active core set as a pure cobalt cylinder (length 3.5 mm and diameter 0.6 mm) covered with a cylindrical stainless-steel capsule (length 5 mm and thickness 0.125 mm) was simulated using Geant4 Monte Carlo (MC) code version 9.4. The radial dose function, g(r), and anisotropy function F(r,theta), for the line source approximation were calculated following the TG-43U1 formalism. The results were compared to well-known Ir-192 and 1(25)I radionuclides, representing the higher and the lower energy end of brachytherapy, respectively. Results: The mean energy of photons in water, after passing through the core and the encapsulation material was 123 keV. This hypothetical Co-57 source has an increasing g(r) due to multiple scatter of low-energy photons, which results in a more uniform dose distribution than Ir-192. Conclusions: Co-57 has many advantages compared to Ir-192 due to its low-energy gamma emissions without any electron contamination. Co-57 has an increasing g(r) that results in a more uniform dose distribution than Ir-192 due to its multiple scattered photons. The anisotropy of the Co-57 source is comparable to that of Ir-192. Furthermore, Co-57 has lower shielding requirements than Ir-192.
|
|
| 8. |
- Ma, Yunzhi, et al.
(författare)
-
A generic TG-186 shielded applicator for commissioning model-based dose calculation algorithms for high-dose-rate Ir-192 brachytherapy
- 2017
-
Ingår i: Medical physics (Lancaster). - : WILEY. - 0094-2405 .- 2473-4209. ; 44:11, s. 5961-5976
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- PurposeA joint working group was created by the American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM), the European Society for Radiotherapy and Oncology (ESTRO), and the Australasian Brachytherapy Group (ABG) with the charge, among others, to develop a set of well-defined test case plans and perform calculations and comparisons with model-based dose calculation algorithms (MBDCAs). Its main goal is to facilitate a smooth transition from the AAPM Task Group No. 43 (TG-43) dose calculation formalism, widely being used in clinical practice for brachytherapy, to the one proposed by Task Group No. 186 (TG-186) for MBDCAs. To do so, in this work a hypothetical, generic high-dose rate (HDR) Ir-192 shielded applicator has been designed and benchmarked. MethodsA generic HDR Ir-192 shielded applicator was designed based on three commercially available gynecological applicators as well as a virtual cubic water phantom that can be imported into any DICOM-RT compatible treatment planning system (TPS). The absorbed dose distribution around the applicator with the TG-186 Ir-192 source located at one dwell position at its center was computed using two commercial TPSs incorporating MBDCAs (Oncentra((R)) Brachy with Advanced Collapsed-cone Engine, ACE, and BrachyVision ACUROS) and state-of-the-art Monte Carlo (MC) codes, including ALGEBRA, BrachyDose, egs_brachy, Geant4, MCNP6, and Penelope2008. TPS-based volumetric dose distributions for the previously reported source centered in water and source displaced test cases, and the new source centered in applicator test case, were analyzed here using the MCNP6 dose distribution as a reference. Volumetric dose comparisons of TPS results against results for the other MC codes were also performed. Distributions of local and global dose difference ratios are reported. ResultsThe local dose differences among MC codes are comparable to the statistical uncertainties of the reference datasets for the source centered in water and source displaced test cases and for the clinically relevant part of the unshielded volume in the source centered in applicator case. Larger local differences appear in the shielded volume or at large distances. Considering clinically relevant regions, global dose differences are smaller than the local ones. The most disadvantageous case for the MBDCAs is the one including the shielded applicator. In this case, ACUROS agrees with MC within [-4.2%, +4.2%] for the majority of voxels (95%) while presenting dose differences within [-0.12%, +0.12%] of the dose at a clinically relevant reference point. For ACE, 95% of the total volume presents differences with respect to MC in the range [-1.7%, +0.4%] of the dose at the reference point. ConclusionsThe combination of the generic source and generic shielded applicator, together with the previously developed test cases and reference datasets (available in the Brachytherapy Source Registry), lay a solid foundation in supporting uniform commissioning procedures and direct comparisons among treatment planning systems for HDR Ir-192 brachytherapy.
|
|
