Use of the FLUKA Monte Carlo code for 3D patient-specific dosimetry on PET-CT and SPECT-CT images.

Patient-specific absorbed dose calculation for nuclear medicine therapy is a topic of increasing interest. 3D dosimetry at the voxel level is one of the major improvements for the development of more accurate calculation techniques, as compared to the standard dosimetry at the organ level. This study aims to use the FLUKA Monte Carlo code to perform patient-specific 3D dosimetry through direct Monte Carlo simulation on PET-CT and SPECT-CT images. To this aim, dedicated routines were developed in the FLUKA environment. Two sets of simulations were performed on model and phantom images. Firstly, the correct handling of PET and SPECT images was tested under the assumption of homogeneous water medium by comparing FLUKA results with those obtained with the voxel kernel convolution method and with other Monte Carlo-based tools developed to the same purpose (the EGS-based 3D-RD software and the MCNP5-based MCID). Afterwards, the correct integration of the PET/SPECT and CT information was tested, performing direct simulations on PET/CT images for both homogeneous (water) and non-homogeneous (water with air, lung and bone inserts) phantoms. Comparison was performed with the other Monte Carlo tools performing direct simulation as well. The absorbed dose maps were compared at the voxel level. In the case of homogeneous water, by simulating 10(8) primary particles a 2% average difference with respect to the kernel convolution method was achieved; such difference was lower than the statistical uncertainty affecting the FLUKA results. The agreement with the other tools was within 3­4%, partially ascribable to the differences among the simulation algorithms. Including the CT-based density map, the average difference was always within 4% irrespective of the medium (water, air, bone), except for a maximum 6% value when comparing FLUKA and 3D-RD in air. The results confirmed that the routines were properly developed, opening the way for the use of FLUKA for patient-specific, image-based dosimetry in nuclear medicine.

Differences among Monte Carlo codes in the calculations of voxel S values for radionuclide targeted therapy and analysis of their impact on absorbed dose evaluations.

Several updated Monte Carlo (MC) codes are available to perform calculations of voxel S values for radionuclide targeted therapy. The aim of this work is to analyze the differences in the calculations obtained by different MC codes and their impact on absorbed dose evaluations performed by voxel dosimetry. Voxel S values for monoenergetic sources (electrons and photons) and different radionuclides (90Y, 131I, and 188Re) were calculated. Simulations were performed in soft tissue. Three general-purpose MC codes were employed for simulating radiation transport: MCNP4C, EGSnrc, and GEANT4. The data published by the MIRD Committee in Pamphlet No. 17, obtained with the EGS4 MC code, were also included in the comparisons. The impact of the differences (in terms of voxel S values) among the MC codes was also studied by convolution calculations of the absorbed dose in a volume of interest. For uniform activity distribution of a given radionuclide, dose calculations were performed on spherical and elliptical volumes, varying the mass from 1 to 500 g. For simulations with monochromatic sources, differences for self-irradiation voxel S values were mostly confined within 10% for both photons and electrons, but with electron energy less than 500 keV, the voxel S values referred to the first neighbor voxels showed large differences (up to 130%, with respect to EGSnrc) among the updated MC codes. For radionuclide simulations, noticeable differences arose in voxel S values, especially in the bremsstrahlung tails, or when a high contribution from electrons with energy of less than 500 keV is involved. In particular, for 90Y the updated codes showed a remarkable divergence in the bremsstrahlung region (up to about 90% in terms of voxel S values) with respect to the EGS4 code. Further, variations were observed up to about 30%, for small source-target voxel distances, when low-energy electrons cover an important part of the emission spectrum of the radionuclide (in our case, for 131I). For 90Y and 188Re, the differences among the various codes have a negligible impact (within few percents) on convolution calculations of the absorbed dose; thus either one of the MC programs is suitable to produce voxel S values for radionuclide targeted therapy dosimetry. However, if a low-energy beta-emitting radionuclide is considered, these differences can affect also dose depositions at small source-target voxel distances, leading to more conspicuous variations (about 9% for 1311) when calculating the absorbed dose in the volume of interest.

Nueva formulación para marcar ciprofloxacina con 99mTc / New formulation to label ciprofloxacin with 99mTc

No disponible