Total Skin Electron Therapy Stanford Technique Evolution With Monte Carlo Simulation Toward Personalized Treatments For Cutaneous Lymphoma

TL;DR

This paper presents a Monte Carlo simulation approach using Geant4 to personalize Total Skin Electron Therapy for cutaneous lymphoma by accurately modeling individual patient anatomy and optimizing dose distribution.

Contribution

It introduces a novel simulation framework that personalizes TSET by integrating patient-specific anatomy and detailed physics modeling for improved treatment accuracy.

Findings

Personalized dose distributions can be generated for individual patients.

The simulation accurately models electron interactions and secondary particles.

Potential for improved treatment outcomes through tailored therapy.

Abstract

Current Total Skin Electron Therapy (TSET) Stanford technique for cutaneous lymphoma, established in the 70's, involves a unique irradiation setup, i.e. patient's position and beam arrangement, for all patients with ensuing great variability in dose distribution and difficult dose optimization. A Geant4-based simulation has been developed to explore the possibility of personalizing the dose to each patient's anatomy. To achieve this optimization of the treatment method, this project enrolls different aspects of the clinical and computational techniques: starting with the knowledge of the experimental parameters involving TSET practice, passing through an innovative approach to model the patient's anatomy, a precise description of the electron beam and a validated configuration of the physics models handling the interactions of the electrons and of secondary particles. The Geant4-based simulation models the patient as a tessellated solid derived from the optical scan of her/his body, realistically reproduces the irradiation environment in detail and calculates the energy deposition corresponding to each facet of the patient's scanned surface. The resulting three-dimensional dose distribution constitutes the basis for the personalization of the medical treatement as appropriate to each patient's specific characteristics.