A review of the use and potential of the GATE Monte Carlo simulation code for radiation therapy and dosimetry applications

• Published in: Medical physics (Lancaster) Vol. 41; no. 6; pp. 064301 - n/a
• Main Authors: Sarrut, David, Bardiès, Manuel, Boussion, Nicolas, Freud, Nicolas, Jan, Sébastien, Létang, Jean-Michel, Loudos, George, Maigne, Lydia, Marcatili, Sara, Mauxion, Thibault, Papadimitroulas, Panagiotis, Perrot, Yann, Pietrzyk, Uwe, Robert, Charlotte, Schaart, Dennis R., Visvikis, Dimitris, Buvat, Irène
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States American Association of Physicists in Medicine 01-06-2014
• Subjects: Anatomy; Animals; Applications; biochemistry; Biochemistry; Beer; Spirits; Wine; Vinegar; Microbiology; Enzymology; Mutation or genetic engineering; Biological material, e.g. blood, urine; Haemocytometers; Biomedical imaging; BRACHYTHERAPY; Computed tomography; Computer Science; Computer Simulation; COMPUTERIZED SIMULATION; Digital computing or data processing equipment or methods, specially adapted for specific applications; DOSIMETRY; Dosimetry/exposure assessment; hadrons; Humans; IN VIVO; medical computing; Medical imaging; Medical Physics; Modeling and Simulation; MONTE CARLO METHOD; Monte Carlo methods; Monte Carlo simulations; Monte‐Carlo simulation; Photons; Physics; Protons; public domain software; RADIATION DOSES; radiation therapy; RADIOLOGY AND NUCLEAR MEDICINE; Radiometry - methods; Radiotherapy - methods; REVIEWS; Scintigraphy; Therapeutic applications, including brachytherapy; dosimetry; Monte-Carlo simulation; radiation therapy
• ISSN: 0094-2405; 2473-4209
• DOI: 10.1118/1.4871617

In this paper, the authors' review the applicability of the open-source GATE Monte Carlo simulation platform based on the GEANT4 toolkit for radiation therapy and dosimetry applications. The many applications of GATE for state-of-the-art radiotherapy simulations are described including external beam radiotherapy, brachytherapy, intraoperative radiotherapy, hadrontherapy, molecular radiotherapy, and in vivo dose monitoring. Investigations that have been performed using GEANT4 only are also mentioned to illustrate the potential of GATE. The very practical feature of GATE making it easy to model both a treatment and an imaging acquisition within the same frameworkis emphasized. The computational times associated with several applications are provided to illustrate the practical feasibility of the simulations using current computing facilities.