Article Dans Une Revue Medical Physics : The international journal of medical physics research and practice Année : 2025

Results of a Geant4 benchmarking study for bio‐medical applications, performed with the G4‐Med system

1 CIEMAT - Centro de Investigaciones Energéticas, Medioambientales y Tecnológicas
2 University of Wollongong [Australia]
3 INFN - Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare [Ferrara]
4 LPI RAS - P. N. Lebedev Physical Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences [Moscow]
5 Swinburne University of Technology (Hawthorn campus)
6 ISS - Istituto Superiore di Sanità = Italian National Institute of Health [Roma, Italia]
7 Australian Centre for Neutron Scattering (ACNS), Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO), Lucas Heights, NSW, 2234
8 INFN - Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Catania
9 Universidad de Sevilla = University of Seville = Université de Seville
10 SwHaRD S.R.L.
11 SLAC - SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory
12 UC San Francisco - University of California [San Francisco]
13 NRG Netherland
14 Tokushima University
15 LP2I - Bordeaux - Laboratoire de Physique des Deux Infinis Bordeaux
16 TSU - National Research Tomsk State University [Tomsk]
17 Geant4 Associates International Ltd
18 University of Virginia
19 University of Ioannina
20 LAPP - Laboratoire d'Annecy de Physique des Particules
21 QUB - Queen's University [Belfast]
22 INFN - Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare = National Institute for Nuclear Physics [Rome]
23 INFN - Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare [Sezione di Roma 1]
24 Dipartimento di Fisica [Roma La Sapienza]
25 CERN [Genève]
26 Nagoya City University [Nagoya, Japan]
27 Azienda Ospedaliera Universitaria Pisana
28 Hospital Universitario Puerta de Hierro-Majadahonda [Madrid, Spain]
29 IRSN/PSE-SANTE/SDOS/LDRI - Laboratoire de dosimétrie des rayonnements ionisants
30 UPO - Universidad Pablo de Olavide [Sevilla]
31 UC - University of California
32 UOsaka - The University of Osaka
33 Lund University
34 High energy accelerator research organization - KEK
35 Radboud University [Nijmegen]
36 ANU - Australian National University
37 UNICAMP - Universidade Estadual de Campinas = University of Campinas
Jay Archer
David Bolst
Paolo Dondero
Christian Fedon
Susanna Guatelli
Akihiro Haga
Dmitri Konstantinov
Ioanna Kyriakou
Alfonso Mantero
Mihaly Novak
José Ramos-Méndez
Dousatsu Sakata
Luis Sarmiento
Ioannis Sechopoulos
Edward Simpson
Ronny Stanzani
  • Fonction : Auteur

Résumé

BackgroundGeant4, a Monte Carlo Simulation Toolkit extensively used in bio‐medical physics, is in continuous evolution to include newest research findings to improve its accuracy and to respond to the evolving needs of a very diverse user community. In 2014, the G4‐Med benchmarking system was born from the effort of the Geant4 Medical Simulation Benchmarking Group, to benchmark and monitor the evolution of Geant4 for medical physics applications. The G4‐Med system was first described in our Medical Physics Special Report published in 2021. Results of the tests were reported for Geant4 10.5. PurposeIn this work, we describe the evolution of the G4‐Med benchmarking system.Methods The G4‐Med benchmarking suite currently includes 23 tests, which benchmark Geant4 from the calculation of basic physical quantities to the simulation of more clinically relevant set‐ups. New tests concern the benchmarking of Geant4‐DNA physics and chemistry components for regression testing purposes, dosimetry for brachytherapy with a source, dosimetry for external x‐ray and electron FLASH radiotherapy, experimental microdosimetry for proton therapy, and in vivo PET for carbon and oxygen beams. Regression testing has been performed between Geant4 10.5 and 11.1. Finally, a simple Geant4 simulation has been developed and used to compare Geant4 EM physics constructors and physics lists in terms of execution times. ResultsIn summary, our EM tests show that the parameters of the multiple scattering in the Geant4 EM constructor G4EmStandardPhysics_option3 in Geant4 11.1, while improving the modeling of the electron backscattering in high atomic number targets, are not adequate for dosimetry for clinical x‐ray and electron beams. Therefore, these parameters have been reverted back to those of Geant4 10.5 in Geant4 11.2.1. The x‐ray radiotherapy test shows significant differences in the modeling of the bremsstrahlung process, especially between G4EmPenelopePhysics and the other constructors under study ( G4EmLivermorePhysics , G4EmStandardPhysics_option3 , and G4EmStandardPhysics_option4 ). These differences will be studied in an in‐depth investigation within our Group. Improvement in Geant4 11.1 has been observed for the modeling of the proton and carbon ion Bragg peak with energies of clinical interest, thanks to the adoption of ICRU90 to calculate the low energy proton stopping powers in water and of the Linhard–Sorensen ion model, available in Geant4 since version 11.0. Nuclear fragmentation tests of interest for carbon ion therapy show differences between Geant4 10.5 and 11.1 in terms of fragment yields. In particular, a higher production of boron fragments is observed with Geant4 11.1, leading to a better agreement with reference data for this fragment.ConclusionsBased on the overall results of our tests, we recommend to use G4EmStandardPhysics_option4 as EM constructor and QGSP_BIC_HP with G4EmStandardPhysics_option4 , for hadrontherapy applications. The Geant4‐DNA physics lists report differences in modeling electron interactions in water, however, the tests have a pure regression testing purpose so no recommendation can be formulated.

Fichier principal
Vignette du fichier
Medical Physics - 2025 - Arce - Results of a Geant4 benchmarking study for bio‐medical applications performed with the.pdf (12.75 Mo) Télécharger le fichier
Origine Fichiers éditeurs autorisés sur une archive ouverte
Licence

Dates et versions

hal-05060859 , version 1 (16-01-2026)

Licence

Identifiants

Citer

Pedro Arce, Jay Archer, Lorenzo Arsini, Alexander Bagulya, David Bolst, et al.. Results of a Geant4 benchmarking study for bio‐medical applications, performed with the G4‐Med system. Medical Physics : The international journal of medical physics research and practice, 2025, 52 (5), pp.2707-2761. ⟨10.1002/mp.17678⟩. ⟨hal-05060859⟩
330 Consultations
73 Téléchargements

Altmetric

Partager

  • More