Posted on 15 April 2014
The 46,000 lines of the original version of Monte Carlo code Penelope coded in Fortran 77 have been completely rewritten in C++; the new version of the code was then used to build a new radiotherapy treatment modeling software application.
The new code offers a number of advantages, including 30% faster execution, smaller memory footprint, and better error calculation.
The code is also modular and easy to upgrade with new features and models. It could therefore be used for new applications like X-ray imaging dosimetry.
One of the first uses of the new code was to study the physical effects of injecting heavy element nanoparticles into brain tumors. Despite the complexity of the two-million-nanoparticle simulation, the software accurately calculated the dose deposited in less than a day—the GEANT4 code would have taken a week to do the same thing.
The software will position Doseo to offer a broader range of services—dosimetric reconstitution, support designing equipment, and more—to its industrial partners, will more solidly anchor the center’s know-how in Monte Carlo codes, and round out its training programs.
