MCPS - an MCNPX Based Simulation Tool for Modeling the Physical Behavior of PET Systems

Monte Carlo simulation is an effective tool for modeling imaging equipment of nuclear medicine such as PET systems. The aim of this paper is to present a novel simulation tool called MCPS (Monte Carlo for PET Systems) to demonstrate that MCNPX can be made capable of performing PET system simulations. The general purpose Monte Carlo code MCNPX serves in many cases as reference. It has numerous advantages: it is more flexible than dedicated programs, every interaction data can be retrieved, but has limited ability to handle time depending processes (e.g., source activity cannot be defined). Therefore, unlike the GEANT4 based GATE program, MCNPX is not widely used for PET simulations. MCPS is capable of modeling the physical behavior of PET systems. The processing steps can be tailored to a wide range of applications, such as digital SiPM sensors or non-conventional geometries such as PET probes. For the verification of the tool described below, the parameters of the nanoScan-PC system (Mediso Ltd.) were used. Verification of the simulation tool has been performed by comparing the MCPS simulation results with measured data.