A method to implement inter-track interactions in Monte Carlo simulations with TOPAS-nBio and their influence on simulated radical yields following water radiolysis

Abstract

Abstract Objective. In FLASH radiotherapy (dose rates ≥40 Gy s−1), a reduced normal tissue toxicity has been observed, while maintaining the same tumor control compared to conventional radiotherapy (dose rates ≤0.03 Gy s−1). This protecting effect could not be fully explained yet. One assumption is that interactions between the chemicals of different primary ionizing particles, so-called inter-track interactions, trigger this outcome. In this work, we included inter-track interactions in Monte Carlo track structure simulations and investigated the yield of chemicals (G-value) produced by ionizing particles. Approach. For the simulations, we used the Monte Carlo toolkit TOPAS, in which inter-track interactions cannot be implemented without further effort. Thus, we developed a method enabling the simultaneous simulation of N original histories in one event allowing chemical species to interact with each other. To investigate the effect of inter-track interactions we analyzed the G-value of different chemicals using various radiation sources. We used electrons with an energy of 60 eV in different spatial arrangements as well as a 10 MeV and 100 MeV proton source. For electrons we set N between 1 and 60, for protons between 1 and 100. Main results. In all simulations, the total G-value decreases with increasing N. In detail, the G-value for •OH , H3O and eaq decreases with increasing N, whereas the G-value of OH− , H2O2 and H2 increases slightly. The reason is that with increasing N, the concentration of chemical radicals increases allowing for more chemical reactions between the radicals resulting in a change of the dynamics of the chemical stage. Significance. Inter-track interactions resulting in a variation of the yield of chemical species, may be a factor explaining the FLASH effect. To verify this hypothesis, further simulations are necessary in order to evaluate the impact of varying G-values on the yield of DNA damages.