BIOPHYSICAL SIMULATION TOOL PARTRAC: MODELLING PROTON BEAMS AT THERAPY-RELEVANT ENERGIES.

ABSTRACT

The biophysical simulation tool PARTRAC has been primarily developed to model radiation physics, chemistry and biology on nanometre to micrometre scales. However, the tool can be applied in simulating radiation effects in an event-by-event manner over macroscopic volumes as well. Benchmark simulations are reported showing that PARTRAC does reproduce the macroscopic Bragg peaks of proton beams, although the penetration depths are underestimated by a few per cent for high-energy beams. PARTRAC also quantifies the increase in DNA damage and its complexity along the beam penetration depth. Enhanced biological effectiveness is predicted in particular within distal Bragg peak parts of therapeutic proton beams.