Computational modelling of cervix radiation procedure using a virtual anthropomorphic phantom and the MCNPX code

Abstract

Abstract There is a serious, and growing concern about the increased risk of the emergence of a secondary cancer, radio-induced, associated with radiotherapy treatments. To assess the radiation doses to organs outside the target volume, in this work, several computational exposure scenarios were modelled, based on Monte Carlo simulation (MCNPX code). A Varian 2100c accelerator, and a female virtual anthropomorphic phantom were used, in a simulated treatment of cervical cancer. The determination of the dispersed dose would be important for assessing the risk in different organs or tissues. Four treatment fields were applied, varying the gantry angle. It was possible to observe that the conversion factors for equivalent dose were higher for the AP projection. For the RLAT and LLAT projections, the results were similar, fact that may be attributed to the symmetrical distributions of the organs in relation to the radiation source. The results presented in this work showed that the computational exposure scenario provides a versatile and accurate tool to estimate in a ready way the absorbed doses during a cervical treatment.