Decomposition of the absorbed dose by LET in tissue-equivalent materials within the SHIELD-HIT transport code

TL;DR

This paper describes the method for decomposing absorbed dose by LET in tissue-equivalent materials within the SHIELD-HIT transport code, demonstrating its application to various particle beams and providing detailed insights into dose distribution.

Contribution

It introduces and details the dose decomposition by LET in the SHIELD-HIT code, which was previously undocumented, enhancing its utility for radiotherapy modeling.

Findings

Decomposition method applied to proton, alpha, lithium, carbon, and oxygen beams.

Illustrated Bragg curve analysis in water phantom.

Enhanced understanding of dose distribution by LET.

Abstract

The SHIELD-HIT transport code, in several versions, has been used for modeling the interaction of therapeutic beams of light nuclei with tissue-equivalent materials for a long time. All versions of the code include useful option of decomposition of the absorbed dose by the linear energy transfer (LET), but this option has not been described and published so far. In this work the procedure of decomposition of the absorbed dose by LET is described and illustrated by using the decomposition of the Bragg curve in water phantom, irradiated by beams of protons, alpha particles, and of ions lithium, carbon and oxygen.