Impact of X-ray energy on absorbed dose assessed with Monte Carlo simulations in a mouse tumor and in nearest organs irradiated with kilovoltage X-ray beams

Minibeam radiation therapy at a conventional irradiator: Dose-calculation engine and first tumor-bearing animals irradiation

PURPOSE

Minibeam radiation therapy (MBRT) is a novel therapeutic strategy, whose exploration was hindered due to its restriction to large synchrotrons. Our recent implementation of MBRT in a wide-spread small animal irradiator offers the possibility of performing systematic radiobiological studies. The aim of this research was to develop a set of dosimetric tools to reliably guide biological experiments in the irradiator.

METHODS

A Monte Carlo (Geant4)-based dose calculation engine was developed. It was then benchmarked against a series of dosimetric measurements performed with gafchromic films. Two voxelized rat phantoms (ROBY, computer tomography) were used to evaluate the treatment plan of F98 tumor-bearing rats. The response of a group of 7 animals receiving a unilateral irradiation of 58 Gy was compared to a group of non-irradiated controls.

RESULTS

The good agreement between calculations and the experimental data allowed the validation of the dose-calculation engine. The latter was first used to compare the dose distributions in computer tomography images of a rat's head and in a digital model of a rat's head (ROBY), obtaining a good general agreement. Finally, with respect to the in vivo experiment, the increase of mean survival time of the treated group with respect to the controls was modest but statistically significant.

CONCLUSIONS

The developed dosimetric tools were used to reliably guide the first MBRT treatments of intracranial glioma-bearing rats outside synchrotrons. The significant tumor response obtained with respect to the non-irradiated controls, despite the heterogenous dose coverage of the target, might indicate the participation of non-targeted effects.

G4DARI: Geant4/GATE based Monte Carlo simulation interface for dosimetry calculation in radiotherapy

Monte Carlo (MC) simulation is widely recognized as an important technique to study the physics of particle interactions in nuclear medicine and radiation therapy. There are different codes dedicated to dosimetry applications and widely used today in research or in clinical application, such as MCNP, EGSnrc and Geant4. However, such codes made the physics easier but the programming remains a tedious task even for physicists familiar with computer programming. In this paper we report the development of a new interface GEANT4 Dose And Radiation Interactions (G4DARI) based on GEANT4 for absorbed dose calculation and for particle tracking in humans, small animals and complex phantoms. The calculation of the absorbed dose is performed based on 3D CT human or animal images in DICOM format, from images of phantoms or from solid volumes which can be made from any pure or composite material to be specified by its molecular formula. G4DARI offers menus to the user and tabs to be filled with values or chemical formulas. The interface is described and as application, we show results obtained in a lung tumor in a digital mouse irradiated with seven energy beams, and in a patient with glioblastoma irradiated with five photon beams. In conclusion, G4DARI can be easily used by any researcher without the need to be familiar with computer programming, and it will be freely available as an application package.