• Progress in Medical Physics
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.21-34
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• 2008

The parallel Monte Carlo electron and photon transport (PMCEPT) code [Kum and Lee, J. Korean Phys. Soc. 47, 716 (2006)] for calculating electron and photon beam doses has been developed based on the three dimensional geometry defined by computed tomography (CT) images and implemented on the Beowulf PC cluster. Understanding the limitations of Monte Carlo codes is useful in order to avoid systematic errors in simulations and to suggest further improvement of the codes. We evaluated the PMCEPT code by comparing its normalized depth doses for electron and photon beams with those of MCNP5, EGS4, DPM, and GEANT4 codes, and with measurements. The PMCEPT results agreed well with others in homogeneous and heterogeneous media within an error of $1{\sim}3%$ of the dose maximum. The computing time benchmark has also been performed for two cases, showing that the PMCEPT code was approximately twenty times faster than the MCNP5 for 20-MeV electron beams irradiated on the water phantom. For the 18-MV photon beams irradiated on the water phantom, the PMCEPT was three times faster than the GEANT4. Thus, the results suggest that the PMCEPT code is indeed appropriate for both fast and accurate simulations.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Medical Physics Conference
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• 2006.08a
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• pp.67-67
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• 2006

• Progress in Medical Physics
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.144-152
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• 2006

The telemedicine using independent client-server system via networks can provide high quality normalized services to many hospitals, specifically to local/rural area hospitals. This will eventually lead to a decreased medical cost because the centralized institute can handle big computer hardware systems and complicated software systems efficiently and economically, Customized cancer radiation treatment planning for each patient Is very useful for both a patient and a doctor because it makes possible for the most effective treatment with the least possible dose to patient. Radiation planners know that too small a dose to the tumor can result in recurrence of the cancer, while too large a dose to healthy tissue can cause complications or even death. The best solution is to build an accurate planning simulation system to provide better treatment strategies based on each patient's computerized tomography (CT) image. We are developing a web-based and a network-based customized cancer radiation therapy simulation system consisting of four Important computer codes; a CT managing code for preparing the patients target data from their CT image files, a parallel Monte Carlo high-energy beam code (PMCEPT code) for calculating doses against the target generated from the patient CT image, a parallel linear programming code for optimizing the treatment plan, and scientific data visualization code for efficient pre/post evaluation of the results. The whole softwares will run on a high performance Beowulf PC cluster of about 100-200 CPUs. Efficient management of the hardware and software systems is not an easy task for a hospital. Therefore, we integrated our system into the client-sewer system via network or web and provide high quality normalized services to many hospitals. Seamless communication with doctors is maintained via messenger function of the server-client system.