The parallel Monte Carlo electron and photon transport (PMCEPT) code [Kum and Lee, J. Korean Phys. Soc. 47, 716 (2006)] for calculating electron and photon beam doses has been developed based on the three dimensional geometry defined by computed tomography (CT) images and implemented on the Beowulf PC cluster. Understanding the limitations of Monte Carlo codes is useful in order to avoid systematic errors in simulations and to suggest further improvement of the codes. We evaluated the PMCEPT code by comparing its normalized depth doses for electron and photon beams with those of MCNP5, EGS4, DPM, and GEANT4 codes, and with measurements. The PMCEPT results agreed well with others in homogeneous and heterogeneous media within an error of 1~3% of the dose maximum. The computing time benchmark has also been performed for two cases, showing that the PMCEPT code was approximately twenty times faster than the MCNP5 for 20-MeV electron beams irradiated on the water phantom. For the 18-MV photon beams irradiated on the water phantom, the PMCEPT was three times faster than the GEANT4. Thus, the results suggest that the PMCEPT code is indeed appropriate for both fast and accurate simulations.
Electrons ; Water

In case of radiation treatment using small field high-energy photon beams, an accurate dosimetry is a challenging task because of dosimetrically unfavorable phenomena such as dramatic changes of the dose at the field boundaries, dis-equilibrium of the electrons, and non-uniformity between the detector and the phantom materials. In this study, the absorbed dose in the phantom was measured by using an ion chamber and a diode detector widely used in clinics. GAFCHROMIC(R) EBT films composed of water equivalent materials was also evaluated as a small field detector and compared with ionchamber and diode detectors. The output factors at 10 cm depth of a solid phantom located 100 cm from the 6 MV linear accelerator (Varian, 6 EX) source were measured for 6 field sizes (5x5 cm2, 2x2 cm2, 1.5x1.5 cm2, 1x1 cm2, 0.7x0.7 cm2 and 0.5x0.5 cm2). As a result, from 5x5 cm2 to 1.5x1.5 cm2 field sizes, absorbed doses from three detectors were accurately identified within 1%. Wheres, the ion chamber underestimated dose compared to other detectors in the field sizes less than 1x1 cm2. In order to correct the observed underestimation, a convolution method was employed to eliminate the volume averaging effect of an ion chamber. Finally, in 1x1 cm2 field the absorbed dose with a diode detector was about 3% higher than that with the EBT film while the dose with the ion chamber after volume correction was 1% lower. For 0.5x0.5 cm2 field, the dose with the diode detector was 1% larger than that with the EBT film while dose with volume corrected ionization chamber was 7% lower. In conclusion, the possiblity of GAFCHROMIC(R) EBT film as an small field dosimeter was tested and further investigation will be proceed using Monte Calro simulation.
Electrons ; Particle Accelerators ; Water