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260 Nuclear Reactors and Fuel Cycle | Progress Report

Software for 3D images and Dose
Distribution Calculation

The “AMIGOBrachy” is a planning software for
treating cancer with brachytherapy sources
developed in MATLAB at the Nuclear Engi-
neering Center. The main resources and tools
offered by the software AMIGOBrachy are:
Acquisition of tomographic images of clinical
diagnoses of patients and engagement with
the Monte Carlo code MCNP6 to calculate 3D
dose distribution in the patient; modeling of
radioactive sources used in cancer treatment;
compatibility for exchanging information with
commercial planning systems of large compa-
nies; incorporation of innovative resources for
planning and increased effectiveness in treat-
ing. Several studies have reported methodol-
ogies to calculate and correct the transit dose
component of the moving radiation source for
high dose rate (HDR) in brachytherapy plan-
ning systems. However, most of these works
employ the average source speed, which varies
significantly with the measurement technique
used, and does not represent a realistic speed
profile, therefore, providing an inaccurate dose
determination. In this work, the authors quan-
tified the transit dose component of a HDR unit
based on the measurement of the instanta-
neous source speed to produce more accurate
dose values. The present work demonstrated
that the transit dose correction based on av-
erage source speed fails to accurately correct
the dose, indicating that the correct speed pro-
file should be considered. The impact on total
dose due to the transit dose correction near
the dwell positions is significant and should
be considered more carefully in treatments
with high dose rate, several catheters, multiple
dwell positions, small dwell times, and several
fractions. Figure 22 shows some results from
“AMIGOBrachy” software.

Figure 22. Results from “AMIGOBrachy” software for
Estimates of the contribution of the dose of 3D images and Dose Distribution Calculation.

Instituto de Pesquisas Energéticas e Nucleares