The nature of transport calculations used in radiation oncology

Abstract

In the medical discipline of radiation oncology, collimated beams of high-energy radiation are directed toward malignant tumor sites. The objective is twofold: (i) to deliver a sufficiently strong dose to the tumor to ensure with high probability that it is “controlled,” and (ii) to deliver a sufficiently weak dose to the surrounding healthy tissue to ensure with high probability that complications will not occur. In solving this optimization problem, medical physicists use a sequence of computer-generated 3-D transport (dose) calculations that simulate the effects of radiation beams penetrating through human tissue. This paper briefly reviews the concepts that underlie radiation oncology, some current numerical algorithms for performing dose calculations, and open problems.