Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2022 Sep 8;67(18):10.1088/1361-6560/ac8c83.
doi: 10.1088/1361-6560/ac8c83.

The OpenGATE ecosystem for Monte Carlo simulation in medical physics

David Sarrut  1 , Nicolas Arbor  2 , Thomas Baudier  1 , Damian Borys  3 , Ane Etxebeste  1 , Hermann Fuchs  4   5 , Jan Gajewski  6 , Loïc Grevillot  4 , Sébastien Jan  7 , George C Kagadis  8 , Han Gyu Kang  9 , Assen Kirov  10 , Olga Kochebina  7 , Wojciech Krzemien  11   12   13 , Antony Lomax  14   15 , Panagiotis Papadimitroulas  16 , Christian Pommranz  17   18 , Emilie Roncali  19 , Antoni Rucinski  6 , Carla Winterhalter  14   15 , Lydia Maigne  20
Affiliations
Review

The OpenGATE ecosystem for Monte Carlo simulation in medical physics

David Sarrut et al. Phys Med Biol. .

Abstract

This paper reviews the ecosystem of GATE, an open-source Monte Carlo toolkit for medical physics. Based on the shoulders of Geant4, the principal modules (geometry, physics, scorers) are described with brief descriptions of some key concepts (Volume, Actors, Digitizer). The main source code repositories are detailed together with the automated compilation and tests processes (Continuous Integration). We then described how the OpenGATE collaboration managed the collaborative development of about one hundred developers during almost 20 years. The impact of GATE on medical physics and cancer research is then summarized, and examples of a few key applications are given. Finally, future development perspectives are indicated.

Keywords: Gate; Geant4; Monte Carlo; simulation.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Main GATE classes architecture and link with Geant4 classes. Singleton classes are depicted with a small “1” icon.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Classes architecture of the GATE scorers and actors module.
Figure 3.
Figure 3.
A schematic of the GATE digitizer main workflow and elements: a) digitizer module within the GATE environment and its interaction with other modules; b) digitizer module. An example of a scintillation detector containing two scintillation crystals and a photocathode is illustrated.
Figure 4.
Figure 4.
Estimated number of publications of GATE from 2004 to 2021 regarding imaging, dosimetry and radiotherapy applications.
Figure 5.
Figure 5.
Main applications of GATE in medical physics.
Figure 6.
Figure 6.
a) GATE Cerenkov luminescence imaging setup with optical imaging system and positron sources inside a water phantom, b) GATE Cerenkov luminescence imaging simulation geometry, c) the CCD image that collected Cerenkov luminescence light for 10 seconds.
Figure 7.
Figure 7.
2D dose (left panel) and LETd of protons (middle panel) distributions in water for therapeutic pencil proton beam at 150 MeV and the corresponding LET spectrum (right panel) for the measurement point at the Bragg peak depth, 45 mm from the beam axis, indicated with red squares on left and middle panels. Proton, electron and photon contributions to the LET spectrum are calculated with GATE and compared to the measurement with a TimePix detector. Wide range of proton LET values is approximated by the averaged LETd given in the legend.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Agostinelli S, Allison J, Amako K, Apostolakis J, Araujo H, Arce P, Asai M, Axen D, Banerjee S, Barrand G, Behner F, Bellagamba L, Boudreau J, Broglia L, Brunengo A, Burkhardt H, Chauvie S, Chuma J, Chytracek R, Cooperman G, Cosmo G, Degtyarenko P, Dell’Acqua A, Depaola G, Dietrich D, Enami R, Feliciello A, Ferguson C, Fesefeldt H, Folger G, Foppiano F, Forti A, Garelli S, Giani S, Giannitrapani R, Gibin D, Gómez Cadenas JJ, González I, Gracia Abril G, Greeniaus G, Greiner W, Grichine V, Grossheim A, Guatelli S, Gumplinger P, Hamatsu R, Hashimoto K, Hasui H, Heikkinen A, Howard A, Ivanchenko V, Johnson A, Jones FW, Kallenbach J, Kanaya N, Kawabata M, Kawabata Y, Kawaguti M, Kelner S, Kent P, Kimura A, Kodama T, Kokoulin R, Kossov M, Kurashige H, Lamanna E, Lampén T, Lara V, Lefebure V, Lei F, Liendl M, Lockman W, Longo F, Magni S, Maire M, Medernach E, Minamimoto K, Mora de Freitas P, Morita Y, Murakami K, Nagamatu M, Nartallo R, Nieminen P, Nishimura T, Ohtsubo K, Okamura M, O’Neale S, Oohata Y, Paech K, Perl J, Pfeiffer A, Pia MG, Ranjard F, Rybin A, Sadilov S, Di Salvo E, Santin G, Sasaki T, Savvas N, Sawada Y, Scherer S, Sei S, Sirotenko V, Smith D, Starkov N, Stoecker H, Sulkimo J, Takahata M, Tanaka S, Tcherniaev E, Safai Tehrani E, Tropeano M, Truscott P, Uno H, Urban L, Urban P, Verderi M, Walkden A, Wander W, Weber H, Wellisch JP, Wenaus T, Williams DC, Wright D, Yamada T, Yoshida H, and Zschiesche D. Geant4 - a simulation toolkit. Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment, 506(3):250–303, July 2003. ISSN 01689002. doi: 10/czv4cm.
    1. Aguiar P, Casarejos E, Vilan JA, and Iglesias A. Geant4-GATE simulation of a large plastic scintillator for muon radiography. In 2013 3rd International Conference on Advancements in Nuclear Instrumentation, Measurement Methods and Their Applications (ANIMMA), pages 1–5, June 2013. doi: 10.1109/ANIMMA.2013.6728082.
    1. Aitkenhead Adam H., Sitch Peter, Richardson Jenny C., Winterhalter Carla, Patel Imran, and Mackay Ranald I.. Automated Monte-Carlo re-calculation of proton therapy plans using Geant4/Gate: Implementation and comparison to plan-specific quality assurance measurements. The British Journal of Radiology, 93(1114): 20200228, October 2020. ISSN 1748–880X. doi: 10.1259/bjr.20200228. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Aklan B, Jakoby BW, Watson CC, Braun H, Ritt P, and Quick HH. GATE Monte Carlo simulations for variations of an integrated PET/MR hybrid imaging system based on the Biograph mMR model. Physics in Medicine and Biology, 60 (12):4731–4752, June 2015. ISSN 0031–9155. doi: 10/ghck7g. - PubMed
    1. Ali Yasmine, Monini Caterina, Russeil Etienne, Jean Michel Létang Etienne Testa, Maigne Lydia, and Beuve Michael. Estimate of the Biological Dose in Hadrontherapy Using GATE. Cancers, 14(7):1667, March 2022. ISSN 2072–6694. doi: 10.3390/cancers14071667. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

Publication types