Assessment of radiation-induced secondary cancer risk in the Brazilian population from left-sided breast-3D-CRT using MCNPX.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this work was to simulate a 6MV conventional breast 3D conformational radiation therapy (3D-CRT) with physical wedges (50 Gy/25#) in the left breast, calculate the mean absorbed dose in the body organs using robust models and computational tools and estimate the secondary cancer-incidence risk to the Brazilian population. METHODS: The VW female phantom was used in the simulations. Planning target volume (PTV) was defined in the left breast. The 6MV parallel-opposed fields breast-radiotherapy (RT) protocol was simulated with MCNPx code. The absorbed doses were evaluated in all the organs. The secondary cancer-incidence risk induced by radiotherapy was calculated for different age groups according to the BEIR VII methodology. RESULTS: RT quality indexes indicated that the protocol was properly simulated. Significant absorbed dose values in red bone marrow, RBM (0.8 Gy) and stomach (0.6 Gy) were observed. The contralateral breast presented the highest risk of incidence of a secondary cancer followed by leukaemia, lung and stomach. The risk of a secondary cancer-incidence by breast-RT, for the Brazilian population, ranged between 2.2-1.7% and 0.6-0.4%. CONCLUSION: RBM and stomach, usually not considered as OAR, presented high second cancer incidence risks of 0.5-0.3% and 0.4-0.1%, respectively. This study may be helpful for breast-RT risk/benefit assessment. Advances in knowledge: MCNPX-dosimetry was able to provide the scatter radiation and dose for all body organs in conventional breast-RT. It was found a relevant risk up to 2.2% of induced-cancer from breast-RT, considering the whole thorax organs and Brazilian cancer-incidence.

Development of a mouse computational model for MCNPx based on Digimouse (r) images and dosimetric assays

ABSTRACT The aim of this study was to create and test a new mice 3D-voxel phantom named DM_BRA for mice and human first-estimation radiopharmaceutical dosimetry. Previously, the article reviews the state-of-art in animal model development. Images from Digimouse CT database were used in the segmentation and on the generation of the voxelized phantom. Simulations for validation of the DM_BRA model was performed at 0.015, 0.1, 0.5, 1 and 4 MeV photons with heart-source. Specific Absorbed Fractions (SAF) data were compared with literature data. The organ masses of DM_BRA correlated well with existing models based on the same dataset; however, few small organ masses hold significant variations. The SAF data in most simulated cases were statistically equal to a significant level of 0.01 to the reference data.

Improvement of the WBC calibration of the Internal Dosimetry Laboratory of the CDTN/CNEN using the physical phantom BOMAB and MCNPX code.

The Laboratory of Internal Dosimetry of the Center for Development of Nuclear Technology (LDI/CDTN) is responsible for routine internal monitoring of occupationally exposed individuals. The determination of photon emitting radionuclides in the human body requires calibration of the detector in specific counting geometries. The calibration process uses physical phantoms containing certified activities of the radionuclides of interest. The objective of this work was to obtain calibration efficiency curves of the Whole Body Counter in operation at the LDI/CDTN using a BOMAB physical phantom and Monte Carlo simulations.

SOFT-RT: Software for IMRT simulations based on MCNPx code.

Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy (IMRT) is an advanced treatment technique, widely used in external radiotherapy. This paper presents the SOFT-RT which allows the simulation of an entire IMRT treatment protocol. The SOFT-RT performs a full three-dimensional renderization of a set of patient images, including the definitions of region of interest with organs in risk (OIR), and the target tumor volume and margins (PTV). Thus, a more accurate analysis and planning can be performed, taking into account the features and orientation of the radiation beams. The exposed tissues as well as the amount of absorbed dose is depicted in healthy and/or cancerous tissues. As conclusion, SOFT-RT can predict dose on the PTV accurately, preserving the surrounding healthy tissues. SOFT-RT is coupled with SISCODES code. The SISCODES code is firstly applied to segment the set of CT or MRI patient images in distinct tissues pointing out its respective density and chemical compositions. Later, the voxel model is export to the SOFT-RT IMRT planning module in which a full treatment planning is created. All geometrical parameters are sent to the general-purpose Monte Carlo transport code-MCNP-to simulate the interaction of each incident beam towards to the PTV avoiding OIR. Computational simulations is running on MCNPx. The normalized dose results are exported to the SOFT-RT output-module, in which the three-dimensional model visualization is shown in a transparent glass procedure adopting gray scale for the dependence on the mass density of the correlated tissue; while, a color scale to depict dose values in a superimpose protocol.