Program Information
Latent Uncertainties and Performance of a GPU-Implemented Pre-Calculated Track Monte Carlo Method
M Renaud1*, D Roberge2 , J Seuntjens1 , (1) McGill University, Montreal, QC, (2) Centre Hospitalier de l'Universite de Montreal, Montreal, QC
Presentations
TH-A-19A-4 Thursday 7:30AM - 9:30AM Room: 19APurpose: Assessing the performance and uncertainty of a pre-calculated Monte Carlo (PMC) algorithm for proton and electron transport running on graphics processing units (GPU). While PMC methods have been described in the past, an explicit quantification of the latent uncertainty arising from recycling a limited number of tracks in the pre-generated track bank is missing from the literature. With a proper uncertainty analysis, an optimal pre-generated track bank size can be selected for a desired dose calculation uncertainty.
Methods: Particle tracks were pre-generated for electrons and protons using EGSnrc and GEANT4, respectively. The PMC algorithm for track transport was implemented on the CUDA programming framework. GPU-PMC dose distributions were compared to benchmark dose distributions simulated using general-purpose MC codes in the same conditions. A latent uncertainty analysis was performed by comparing GPU-PMC dose values to a ``ground truth'' benchmark while varying the track bank size and primary particle histories.
Results: GPU-PMC dose distributions and benchmark doses were within 1% of each other in voxels with dose greater than 50% of Dmax. In proton calculations, a sub-millimeter distance-to-agreement error was observed at the Bragg Peak. Latent uncertainty followed a Poisson distribution with the number of tracks per energy (TPE) and a track bank of 20,000 TPE produced a latent uncertainty of approximately 1%. Efficiency analysis showed a 937x and 508x gain over a single processor core running DOSXYZnrc for 16 MeV electrons in water and bone, respectively.
Conclusion: The GPU-PMC method can calculate dose distributions for electrons and protons to a statistical uncertainty below 1%. The track bank size necessary to achieve an optimal efficiency can be tuned based on the desired uncertainty. Coupled with a model to calculate dose contributions from uncharged particles, GPU-PMC is a candidate for inverse planning of modulated electron radiotherapy and scanned proton beams.
Funding Support, Disclosures, and Conflict of Interest: This work was supported in part by FRSQ-MSSS (Grant No. 22090), NSERC RG (Grant No. 432290) and CIHR MOP (Grant No. MOP-211360).
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