Python controlled MCNP5 based radiation treatment planning tool
Abstract
The advent of the computing age provides a new foundation for cost effective modeling limited only by the creativity of the developer. The Radiation Treatment Planning Tool (RTPT) was developed to offer a researcher, radiologist, or academic an advanced and unique interface tying CT images and data input into a modeling program seamlessly while promoting functionality and modularity. The RTPT has three main modules: (1) a graphical user interface for input and data control, (2) a set of modeling algorithms that communicate with Monte Carlo code used to simulate the radiation transport (MCNP5/X), and (3) different types of output data representations useful for a doctor or a scientist or a student. The input module consists of a persistent graphical user interface (GUI), programmed in Python, that serves as the top level structure for controlling the rest of the tool. The input module is the primary housing point for all communications occurring between the operating system, Python, MCNP5/X, and the user. The modeling module voxelizes the CT tomography of an individual patient and allows the user to tally doses of varying types of beam therapy. This module couples the GUI and user actions to the MCNP5/X input structures. The output module returns the modeled results in a viewable and useful fashion custom tailored to the user's needs. The RTPT was developed in parallel with the assistance of a professional medical physicist. The program was benchmarked against clinical depth dose data and CT data. The RTPT was used to study the difference in dose profiles between contiguous fields and micro-to-millibeam fields. The results of this analysis are that the size of the beamlets and the center to center distance between beamlets greatly affects the dose in a targeted region of interest. When the c-t-c distance is reduced from 211 micrometers to 105 micrometers, the dose in a volume is increased. These beams can then be overlapped in a target resulting in tumorcidal dose and sparing collateral tissue. The size of the microbeams and millibeams has a direct impact on the shape of the isodose profile. Each beamlet contained a centralized isodose profile unique to that beamlet when compared to the similar contiguous beam setup.
Degree
M.S.
Advisors
Jevremovic, Purdue University.
Subject Area
Nuclear engineering|Computer science|Oncology
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