Fast Electron Beam Simulation and Dose Calculation

A flexible multiple source model capable of fast reconstruction of clinical electron beams is presented in this paper. A source model considers multiple virtual sources emulating the effect of accelerator head components. A reference configuration (10 MeV and 10x10 cm2 field size) for a Siemens KD2 linear accelerator was simulated in full detail using GEANT3 Monte Carlo code. Our model allows the reconstruction of other beam energies and field sizes as well as other beam configurations for similar accelerators using only the reference beam data. Electron dose calculations were performed with the reconstructed beams in a water phantom and compared with experimental data. An agreement of 1-2% / 1-2 mm was obtained, equivalent to the accuracy of full Monte Carlo accelerator simulation. The source model reduces accelerator simulation CPU time by a factor of 7500 relative to full Monte Carlo approaches. The developed model was then interfaced with DPM, a fast radiation transport Monte Carlo code for dose calculation purposes. Dose distributions and dosimetric parameters calculated in the presence of air gaps using this procedure agrees within 1% / 1 mm with experimental data. The obtained accuracy is significantly improved in comparison with the treatment planning system PLATO currently used in clinical practice. A two order of magnitude efficiency gain, in comparison with full Monte Carlo approach was achieved.