Assessing Radiation Therapy treatment of lung cancer using GATE Monte Carlo simulation software
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abstract
Every year over seven million of people worldwide die of cancer. Despite the advancement and innovation in treatment techniques of cancer, radiation therapy (RT) remains the most widely used modality for treatment. It is a non-invasive techniques based on delivering a maximum dose of ionizing radiation to the tumour while preserving the healthy neighbouring organs. More than 50% of cancer patients require RT at some time during their treatment period. RT is done at several stages, a process commonly known as Treatment Planning System (TPS). One of the important and crucial steps in the TPS is the estimation/calculation of the absorbed dose distribution by the targeted area. Currently in climical application the estimation is done using the Anisotropic Analytical Algorithm (AAA). The success of the treatment depends of the dose calculation. However the AAA algorithm is based on quick and limited approximation that can lead to wrong and bad dose coverage. In this proposal we will involve students in our efforts to estimate the quality of the current RT algorithm (AAA) using precise Monte Carlo simulation tools. In practice we will use the Lung Cancer (LC) as our case study. Indeed, LC is known for its low survival rate and represents the leading cause of death for men. The treatment of Lung cancer (LC) under radiotherapy conditions requires particular precision in the distribution of the absorbed dose to the tumor. Students will integrate the High Energy and Medical Physics group at Texas A&M university at Qatar. They will be actively involved in the simulation of the complete setup: e.g. the linear accelerator and the response of several phatoms mimicking the lung and lung cancer tissues. Simulation results will be analyzed and compared to existing exprimental measurements. This project is perfectly aligned with the Qatar national priorities. Indeed, the Qatar National Research Strategy (QNRS) has put research in cancer os one of the national priorities. Moreover the Qatar Cancer Research Strategy (QCRS) has defined five major recommendations in cancer research. One of them is an establishment of a national sophisticated Radio Therapy (RT) research center together with state-of-the art imaging facilities.
