Assessment of induction of secondary tumours due to various radiotherapy modalities

One of the objectives of the European Sixth Framework integrated project MAESTRO is to perform an assessment of risk due to various radiotherapy modalities, regarding secondary tumour induction. Initially, the study will focus on cancer of the prostate and the present work represents the first step towards that goal. One of the intended tools, to be used in the assessment, is the Monte Carlo radiation transport code ORANGE. A validation of the ORANGE code's capability to tally dose on a grid superimposed on an existing MCNP geometry is given. Preliminary results on the dose distribution due to conventional radiotherapy treatment of prostate cancer are discussed. Two mathematical models of the patient are proposed and the clinical relevance of the ADAM phantom is investigated. A problem in comparing average doses provided by commercial treatment planning systems and those calculated with Monte Carlo is noticed. The two proposed models are shown to receive a lower dose and average energy deposition than a 'real' patient.