DOI
https://doi.org/10.25772/KJCB-B414
Defense Date
2005
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Science
Department
Physics
First Advisor
Dr. Jeffrey V. Siebers
Abstract
Recently, there has been interest to integrate VMC++ into the commercial treatment planning system at VCU as another Monte Carlo code option, since it has been shown to increase efficiency dramatically without introducing a significant amount of systematic error. Also, independent validation of VMC++ for photon beams is of interest since this has not been performed previously in literature. This study included several tests required to integrate VMC++. Output factor normalization was performed and found to agree with experiment to within 1% for all field sizes except 1x1 cm2. Geometric validation was successful. Dosimetric validation was performed with respect to DOSXYZnrc on a water phantom, resulting in agreement within statistical uncertainty except for slight differences at the surface of the phantom. Dosimetric comparison was made for a head-and-neck patient case, showing that 5% of the voxels did not agree within 2.8% of maximum dose. The ability of VMC++ to compute dose-to-water was compared to an in-house algorithm and found to agree within statistical uncertainty.
Rights
© The Author
Is Part Of
VCU University Archives
Is Part Of
VCU Theses and Dissertations
Date of Submission
June 2008