Development of a Monte Carlo model for the Brainlab microMLC

Abstract

Stereotactic radiosurgery with several static conformal beams shaped by a micro multileaf collimator (microMLC) is used to treat small irregularly shaped brain lesions. Our goal is to perform Monte Carlo calculations of dose distributions for certain treatment plans as a verification tool. A dedicated microMLC component module for the BEAMnrc code was developed as part of this project and was incorporated in a model of the Varian CL2300 linear accelerator 6 MV photon beam. As an initial validation of the code, the leaf geometry was visualized by tracing particles through the component module and recording their position each time a leaf boundary was crossed. The leaf dimensions were measured and the leaf material density and interleaf air gap were chosen to match the simulated leaf leakage profiles with film measurements in a solid water phantom. A comparison between Monte Carlo calculations and measurements (diode, radiographic film) was performed for square and irregularly shaped fields incident on flat and homogeneous water phantoms. Results show that Monte Carlo calculations agree with measured dose distributions to within 2% and/or 1 mm except for field size smaller than 1.2 cm diameter where agreement is within 5% due to uncertainties in measured output factors.