A graphical user interface for calculation of 3D dose distribution using Monte Carlo simulations

A software graphical user interface (GUI) for calculation of 3D dose distribution using Monte Carlo (MC) simulation is developed using MATLAB. This GUI (DOSCTP) provides a user-friendly platform for DICOM CT-based dose calculation using EGSnrcMP-based DOSXYZnrc code. It offers numerous features not found in DOSXYZnrc, such as the ability to use multiple beams from different phase-space files, and has built-in dose analysis and visualization tools. DOSCTP is written completely in MATLAB, with integrated access to DOSXYZnrc and CTCREATE. The program function may be divided into four subgroups, namely, beam placement, MC simulation with DOSXYZnrc, dose visualization, and export. Each is controlled by separate routines. The verification of DOSCTP was carried out by comparing plans with different beam arrangements (multi-beam/photon arc) on an inhomogeneous phantom as well as patient CT between the GUI and Pinnacle(3). DOSCTP was developed and verified with the following features: (1) a built-in voxel editor to modify CT-based DOSXYZnrc phantoms for research purposes; (2) multi-beam placement is possible, which cannot be achieved using the current DOSXYZnrc code; (3) the treatment plan, including the dose distributions, contours and image set can be exported to a commercial treatment planning system such as Pinnacle3 or to CERR using RTOG format for plan evaluation and comparison; (4) a built-in RTOG-compatible dose reviewer for dose visualization and analysis such as finding the volume of hot/cold spots in the 3D dose distributions based on a user threshold. DOSCTP greatly simplifies the use of DOSXYZnrc and CTCREATE, and offers numerous features that not found in the original user-code. Moreover, since phase-space beams can be defined and generated by the user, it is a particularly useful tool to carry out plans using specifically designed irradiators/accelerators that cannot be found in the Linac library of commercial treatment planning systems.