A comparison of Monte Carlo and model-based dose calculations in radiotherapy using MCNPTV

Monte Carlo calculations for megavoltage radiotherapy beams represent the next generation of dose calculation in the clinical environment. In this paper, calculations obtained by the MCNP code based on CT data from a human pelvis are compared against those obtained by a commercial radiotherapy treatment system (CMS XiO). The MCNP calculations are automated by the use of MCNPTV (MCNP Treatment Verification), an integrated application developed in Visual Basic that runs on a Windows-based PC. The linear accelerator beam is modeled as a finite point source, and validated by comparing depth dose curves and lateral profiles in a water phantom to measured data. Calculated water phantom PDDs are within 1% of measured data, but the lateral profiles exhibit differences of 2.4, 5.5, and 5.7 mm at the 60%, 40%, and 20% isodose lines, respectively. A MCNP calculation is performed using the CT data and 15 points are selected for comparison with XiO. Results are generally within the uncertainty of the MCNP calculation, although differences up to 13.2% are seen in the presence of large heterogeneities.