Monte Carlo Methods For Medical Physics

This book is a guide to the use of Monte Carlo techniques in radiation transport. This topic is of great interest for medical physicists. Praised as a "gold standard" for accurate radiotherapy dose calculations, Monte Carlo has stimulated a high level of research activity that has produced thousands of papers within the past few years. The book is designed primarily to address the needs of an academically inclined medical physicist who wishes to learn the technique, as well as experienced users of standard Monte Carlo codes who wish to gain insight into the underlying mathematics of Monte Carlo algorithms. The book focuses on the fundamentals—giving full attention to and explaining the very basic concepts. It also includes advanced topics and covers recent advances such as transport of charged particles in magnetic fields and the grid-based solvers of the Boltzmann equation.

The Monte Carlo method is a numerical technique to model the probability of all possible outcomes in a process that cannot easily be predicted due to the interference of random variables. It is a technique used to understand the impact of risk, uncertainty, and ambiguity in forecasting models. However, this technique is complicated by the amount of computer time required to achieve sufficient precision in the simulations and evaluate their accuracy. This book discusses the general principles of the Monte Carlo method with an emphasis on techniques to decrease simulation time and increase accuracy.

Modern cancer treatment relies on Monte Carlo simulations to help radiotherapists and clinical physicists better understand and compute radiation dose from imaging devices as well as exploit four-dimensional imaging data. With Monte Carlo-based treatment planning tools now available from commercial vendors, a complete transition to Monte Carlo-base

Thoroughly updated throughout, this second edition of Monte Carlo Techniques in Radiation Therapy: Applications to Dosimetry, Imaging, and Preclinical Radiotherapy, edited by Joao Seco and Frank Verhaegen, explores the use of Monte Carlo methods for modelling various features of internal and external radiation sources. Monte Carlo methods have been heavily used in the field of radiation therapy in applications such as dosimetry, imaging, radiation chemistry, modelling of small animal irradiation units, etc. The aim of this book is to provide a compendium of the Monte Carlo methods that are commonly used in radiation therapy applications, which will allow students, postdoctoral fellows, and university professors to learn and teach Monte Carlo techniques. This book provides concise but detailed information about many Monte Carlo applications that cannot be found in any other didactic or scientific book. This second edition contains many new chapters on topics such as: Monte Carlo studies of prompt gamma emission Developments in proton imaging Monte Carlo for cone beam CT imaging Monte Carlo modelling of proton beams for small animal irradiation Monte Carlo studies of microbeam radiation therapy Monte Carlo in micro- and nano-dosimetry GPU-based fast Monte Carlo simulations for radiotherapy This book is primarily aimed at students and scientists wishing to learn and improve their knowledge of Monte Carlo methods in radiation therapy.

Therapeutic Applications of Monte Carlo Calculations in Nuclear Medicine examines the applications of Monte Carlo (MC) calculations in therapeutic nuclear medicine, from basic principles to computer implementations of software packages and their applications in radiation dosimetry and treatment planning. With chapters written by recognized authorit

From first principles to current computer applications, Monte Carlo Calculations in Nuclear Medicine, Second Edition: Applications in Diagnostic Imaging covers the applications of Monte Carlo calculations in nuclear medicine and critically reviews them from a diagnostic perspective. Like the first edition, this book explains the Monte Carlo method and the principles behind SPECT and PET imaging, introduces the reader to some Monte Carlo software currently in use, and gives the reader a detailed idea of some possible applications of Monte Carlo in current research in SPECT and PET. New chapters in this edition cover codes and applications in pre-clinical PET and SPECT. The book explains how Monte Carlo methods and software packages can be applied to evaluate scatter in SPECT and PET imaging, collimation, and image deterioration. A guide for researchers and students developing methods to improve image resolution, it also demonstrates how Monte Carlo techniques can be used to simulate complex imaging systems.

This book explores the current difficulties and unsolved problems in the field of particle therapy and, after analysing them, discusses how (and if) innovative Monte Carlo approaches can be used to solve them. Each book chapter is dedicated to a different sub-discipline, including multi-ion treatments, flash-radiotherapy, laser-accelerated beams, nanoparticles effects, binary reactions to enhance radiobiology, and space-related issues. This is the first book able to provide a comprehensive insight into this exciting field and the growing use of Monte Carlo in medical physics. It will be of interest to graduate students in medicine and medical physics, in addition to researchers and clinical staff. Key Features: Explores the exciting and interdisciplinary topic of Monte Carlo in particle therapy and medicine. Addresses common challenges in the field. Edited by an authority on the subject, with chapter contributions from specialists. Pablo Cirrone is a medical physicist and researcher at the Laboratori Nazionali del Sud of INFN, Italy, where he supports and coordinates various experimental groups. Dr. Cirrone is an expert in the use of proton and ion in radiation treatment and of absolute and relative dosimetry in electron, photon and ion beam. He is an expert in the development and test of detectors for medical applications, of the production and use of laser-driven beams for medical and multidisciplinary applications and recipient of the Michael Gotein Award. He is active on many scientific committees and organizes national and international conferences. Giada Petringa is a researcher at the Laboratori Nazionali del Sud of INFN, Italy. Dr. Petringa has a professional experience in the field of Monte Carlo simulations for medical applications, dosimetry, microdosimetry, and diagnostics with conventional and laser-driven proton beams. In 2019 she had a MSCA-IF-2019 (Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions-Individual Fellowship) grant funded by the European Community in the framework of the H2020 program. She is a member of the Editorial Board of the international journal Physica Medica - European Journal of Medical. She organized more than fifteen international Geant4 Schools. She is an official member of the Geant4 code Collaboration at CERN since 2019. She is a code developer, and she collaborates to maintain two of the official examples of the code.