Modeling of a Radiation Therapy System for Breast and Lung Cancer Therapy

Abstract

The success of a treatment planning system (TPS) for the treatment of cancer is highly dependent on the accuracy of the radiation administered and the dose delivered to the tumor volume. Based on the previous research, clinical beam accelerators are an imperative feature of the TPS which are widely used in radiation therapy facilities. Our project aims to conduct the reconstruction of the clinical beam accelerator, LINAC Varian Clinac 2300 C/D using comprehensive modeling method on a Monte Carlo Simulation software (TOPAS) and extract the radiation dose of the organs from simulations on phantoms to design a radiation therapy treatment plan. Monte-Carlo Simulation techniques are a precise tool to estimate the dose delivery to the target organs with the aid of sophisticated and reliable Geant4 toolkit. This research is vital to the understanding of the dose delivery to the cancerous tissues and the accuracy of a treatment planning system designed to act as an effective therapeutic weapon that implements a dosimetrically feasible strategy. The expected outcomes of this study are the validation of the LINAC with a previously modelled LINAC using the GATE simulation toolkit, determining the accuracy in the dose calculation of the heart which will contribute to the development of an effective treatment planning system that delivers the proper amount of dose to the cancerous tissues, limiting the exposure and consequent harm to the surrounding healthy tissues. This study will further be applied to the investigation of the correlation between the radiation dose imparted to the heart, the onset of cardiac toxicity and the occurrence of cardiovascular risks associated with the radiation therapy procedure