%0 Journal Article
%T FLUKA Monte Carlo for Basic Dosimetric Studies of Dual Energy Medical Linear Accelerator
%A K. Abdul Haneefa
%A T. Siji Cyriac
%A M. M. Musthafa
%A R. Ganapathi Raman
%A V. T. Hridya
%A A. Siddhartha
%A K. K. Shakir
%J Journal of Radiotherapy
%D 2014
%R 10.1155/2014/343979
%X General purpose Monte Carlo code for simulation of particle transport is used to study the basic dosimetric parameters like percentage depth dose and dose profiles and compared with the experimental measurements from commercial dual energy medical linear accelerator. Varian Clinac iX medical linear accelerator with dual energy photon beams (6 and 15£¿MV) is simulated using FLUKA. FLAIR is used to visualize and edit the geometry. Experimental measurements are taken for 100£¿cm source-to-surface (SSD) in 50 ¡Á 50 ¡Á 50£¿cm3 PTW water phantom using 0.12£¿cc cylindrical ionization chamber. Percentage depth dose for standard square field sizes and dose profiles for various depths are studied in detail. The analysis was carried out using ROOT (a DATA analysis frame work developed at CERN) system. Simulation result shows good agreement in percentage depth dose and beam profiles with the experimental measurements for Varian Clinac iX dual energy medical linear accelerator. 1. Introduction Monte Carlo (MC) method has become a powerful tool in radiation therapy for studying the dosimetric parameters. It is a common objective of medical physics to achieve an accuracy of better than ¡À5% for the delivery of dose. But this can be realized only if the dose calculation accuracy is better than ¡À2%. Therefore, in the future, Monte Carlo algorithms will have a clear preference compared with all other methods of dose calculation. At present, different Monte Carlo codes are used widely for modeling medical linear accelerators [1¨C4]. Monte Carlo methods are applied in radiation therapy to analyze the adequacy of linac head components, to benchmark dose calculation models, and to study the beam characteristics [5, 6]. Modeling of medical linear accelerator in clinical environments using any Monte Carlo models is quite complex to address source definition and collimator materials definitions. Commercial manufactures of medical linear accelerators are distributing limited versions with confidence of agreements. Different approaches are suggested in many literatures to quantify this limited knowledge for modeling [7, 8]. Percentage depth dose (PDD) and beam profiles are the basic parameters to ensure the adequacy of Monte Carlo modeling [9]. Monte Carlo for treatment planning is practically impossible in Indian scenarios, where there are a large number of patients with limited facilities. A Monte Carlo model takes considerable time to optimize individual treatment plans. However, the beam characteristic and other parameters can be tuned using any available Monte Carlo codes for all
%U http://www.hindawi.com/journals/jra/2014/343979/