Monte Carlo in radiotherapy: experience in a distributed computational environment

New technologies in cancer radiotherapy need a more accurate computation of the dose delivered in the radiotherapeutical treatment plan, and it is important to integrate sophisticated mathematical models and advanced computing knowledge into the treatment planning (TP) process. We present some results about using Monte Carlo (MC) codes in dose calculation for treatment planning. A distributed computing resource located in the Technologies and Health Department of the Italian National Institute of Health (ISS) along with other computer facilities (CASPUR - Inter-University Consortium for the Application of Super-Computing for Universities and Research) has been used to perform a fully complete MC simulation to compute dose distribution on phantoms irradiated with a radiotherapy accelerator. Using BEAMnrc and GEANT4 MC based codes we calculated dose distributions on a plain water phantom and air/water phantom. Experimental and calculated dose values below ±2% (for depth between 5 mm and 130 mm) were in agreement both in PDD (Percentage Depth Dose) and transversal sections of the phantom. We consider these results a first step towards a system suitable for medical physics departments to simulate a complete treatment plan using remote computing facilities for MC simulations