Monte Carlo simulation of ruthenium eye plaques with GEANT4: influence of multiple scattering algorithms, the spectrum and the geometry on depth dose profiles.

Previous studies show remarkable differences in the simulation of electron depth dose profiles of ruthenium eye plaques. We examined the influence of the scoring and simulation geometry, the source spectrum and the multiple scattering algorithm on the depth dose profile using GEANT4. The simulated absolute dose deposition agrees with absolute dose data from the manufacturer within the measurement uncertainty. Variations in the simulation geometry as well as the source spectrum have only a small influence on the depth dose profiles. However, the multiple scattering algorithms have the largest influence on the depth dose profiles. They deposit up to 20% less dose compared to the single scattering implementation. We recommend researchers who are interested in simulating low- to medium-energy electrons to examine their simulation under the influence of different multiple scattering settings. Since the simulation and scoring geometry as well as the exact physics settings are best described by the source code of the application, we made the code publicly available.

Development of a high-precision xyz-measuring table for the determination of the 3D dose rate distributions of brachytherapy sources.

An xyz-measuring table with a modular design has been developed for the determination of the individual 3D dose rate distributions of different brachytherapy sources requiring a high spatial resolution and reproducibility. The instrumental setup consists of a plastic scintillator detector system and the xyz-measuring table for guiding the detector across the radioactive sources. For this purpose, a micro positioning system with piezo inertial drives is chosen, providing a step width of 450 nm. To ensure a high reproducibility and accuracy better than 1 µm, an exposed linear encoder controls the positioning. The successful operation of the xyz-measuring table is exemplarily shown by measurements of dose profiles of two brachytherapy sources, an ophthalmic plaque and a radioactive seed. The setup allows a fully automated quality assurance of ophthalmic plaques and radioactive seeds under clinical conditions and can be extended to other (brachytherapy) sources of similar dimensions.