Characterization of materials for prosthetic implants using the BEAMnrc Monte Carlo code

Metallic implants degrade image quality and perturb severely the patient dose distribution in external beam radiotherapy. Furthermore, conventional treatment planning systems (TPS) do not accurately account for tissue heterogeneities, especially at the interfaces where high Z gradients are present. This work deals with the accurate and systematic characterization of materials used for prosthetic implants. The dose calculation engine used in this investigation is the BEAMnrc Monte Carlo code. A detailed comparison versus experimental data was carried out for two clinical photon beam energies (6MV and 18MV). Our results show that in both cases a very good agreement (within 2%) between calculations and experiments was achieved.