(Thursday, 7/18/2019) 10:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Room: 304ABC
Purpose: AAPM Report 195 contains reference datasets for the direct comparison of results between different Monte Carlo (MC) simulation tools but stops short of providing the necessary information for comparing organ doses. The purpose of this work was therefore to extend the efforts of AAPM Report 195 by providing a reference dataset for benchmarking absolute and normalized organ doses from MC simulations of CT exams.
Methods: The reference dataset contains (1) scanner characteristics, (2) patient information, (3) exam specifications, and (4) organ dose results in tabular form. The scanner characteristics include descriptions of equivalent source spectrum, bowtie filtration profile, and scanner geometry information. Additionally, for MCNPX MC engines, normalization factors are provided to convert simulation results to units of absolute dose. The patient information was based on publicly available fetal dose models and includes de-identified image data; voxelized MC input files with fetus, uterus, and gestational sac identified; and patient size metrics in the form water equivalent diameter (Dw) distributions from the image data and from a simulated topogram. Exam characteristics include the scan length and imaging protocol specifications. For tube current modulation (TCM) simulations, an estimate of TCM is provided based on a validated method that accounts for patient attenuation and scanner tube current limitations. In this case, CTDIvol estimates were based on average tube current across the scan volume. Organ dose simulation results are given for each patient model and for TCM and fixed tube current (FTC) CT exam scenarios both in terms of absolute and CTDIvol-normalized fetal dose.
Results: Results TCM and FTC simulations for absolute and normalized fetal dose are presented in tabular form with associated MC error estimates for benchmarking.
Conclusion: The reference dataset for MC benchmarking is now available. This will enable researchers to compare their simulation results to a set of reference data.
Funding Support, Disclosures, and Conflict of Interest: 1) Michael McNitt-Gray, PhD - Departmental master research agreement with Siemens Healthineers 2) Erin Angel, PhD - Employee of Canon Medical Systems
Keywords
Monte Carlo, Dosimetry, Modeling
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