Monte Carlo simulations are widely used for calculation of the dosimetric parameters of brachytherapy sources. MCNP4C2, MCNP5, MCNPX, EGS4, EGSnrc, PTRAN, and GEANT4 are among the most commonly used codes in this field. Each of these codes utilizes a cross-sectional library for the purpose of simulating different elements and materials with complex chemical compositions. The accuracies of the f...

This study evaluated the basic dosimetric characteristics of a Dynamic Multi Leaf Collimator (DMLC) using a diode detector and film measurements for Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy Quality Assurance (IMRT QA). The EGSnrc Monte Carlo (MC) simulation system was used for the determination of MLC characteristics. Radiation transmission and abutting leaf leakage relevant to the LinaTech DMLC H...

This study evaluates the dosimetric impact caused by an air cavity located at 2 mm depth from the top surface in a PMMA phantom irradiated by electron beams produced by a Siemens Primus linear accelerator. A systematic evaluation of the effect related to the cavity area and thickness as well as to the electron beam energy was performed by using Monte Carlo simulations (EGSnrc code), Pencil Beam...

Radiation dosimetry is used to quantify the dose delivered during radiation therapy by using ionization chambers with several correction factors. Knowledge of these factors is needed at well below the 1% level in order to maintain the overall uncertainty on the reference dosimetry near 1-2%. The small magnitude of the corrections renders measurements very difficult. Monte Carlo calculations are...

Background: Small photon fields are increasingly used in modern radiotherapy especially in intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) and stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) treatments. Accurate beam profile and central axis depth doses measurements of such beams are complicated due to the electron disequilibrium. Hence the EBT2 (external beam therapy) Gafchromic film was used for dosimetry of sm...

Introduction: Because of small size of the beamlets in IMRT, physical penumbra is one of the important dosimetric parameters and small changes in the penumbra will have a great impact on the results. The physical penumbra width is defined as the lateral distance between two specified isodose curves at a specified depth of phantom. In this study, after demonstrating the inconsi...

Background: Polymer gel dosimetry is still the only dosimetry method for direct measuring of threedimensional dose distributions. MRI Polymer gel dosimeters are tissue equivalent and can act as a phantom material. In this study the obtained isodose maps with PAGAT polymer gel dosimeter were compared to those calculated with EGSnrs for singleshot irradiations of 8 and 18 mm collimators of...

Background: Accurate small radiation field dosimetry is essential in modern radiotherapy techniques such as stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) and intensity modulated radiotherapy (IMRT). Precise measurement of dosimetric parameters such as beam profile, percentage depth doses and output factor of these beams are complicated due to the electron disequilibrium and the steep dose gradients. In the p...

Aims: The aims of the present work are (1) to evaluate dose calculation accuracy of two commonly used algorithms for 15 MV small photon fields in a medium encompassing heterogeneity and (2) to compare them with measured results obtained from gafchromic film EBT2.Materials and Methods: Authors employed kailwood (Pinus Wallichiana) to mimic lung. Briefly, seven Kailwood plates, each measuring 25x...

In the present work, the correlated sampling technique in Monte Carlo calculations related to diamond dosimetry and graphite calorimetry will be described. The egs_chamber and DOSRZnrc user-codes included in the EGSnrc package are used. Egs_chamber is already provided with routines enabling the use of correlated sampling while an in-house implementation of this technique was made in the origina...