Canadian Organization of Medical Physicists (COMP)
Organisation canadienne des physiciens médicaux (OCPM)
David W.O. ROGERS
Carleton University
Monte Carlo Simulation of Electron-Photon Transport: from Particle Physics to Cancer Radiotherapy
Monte Carlo simulation of the transport of electrons and photons plays a central role in modern radiotherapy research and will soon be in routine use in many clinics. The EGS (Electron Gamma Shower) Monte Carlo code system, which is one of the most widely used codes in medical physics applications, was originally developed at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center for applications in high-energy physics. With various extensions to lower energies it has been used for applications ranging from diagnostic imaging to radiation dosimetry to dose calculations in the treatment of cancer with radiation. With the development of much faster yet accurate codes for radiotherapy treatment planning, Monte Carlo techniques are being extensively developed commercially for radiotherapy applications and continue to be widely used for research. Coming full circle, the extensions of EGS to lower energies led to it being used for simulating electron transport in the SNO neutrino detector and hence it is again a front line particle physics tool.