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Report on G4-Med, a Geant4 benchmarking system for medical physics applications developed by the Geant4 Medical Simulation Benchmarking Group

Arce, P. ; Bolst, D. ; Bordage, M. C. ; Brown, J. M.C. ; Cirrone, P. ; Cortés-Giraldo, M. A. ; Cutajar, D. ; Cuttone, G. ; Desorgher, L. and Dondero, P. , et al. (2021) In Medical Physics 48(1). p.19-56
Abstract

Background: Geant4 is a Monte Carlo code extensively used in medical physics for a wide range of applications, such as dosimetry, micro- and nanodosimetry, imaging, radiation protection, and nuclear medicine. Geant4 is continuously evolving, so it is crucial to have a system that benchmarks this Monte Carlo code for medical physics against reference data and to perform regression testing. Aims: To respond to these needs, we developed G4-Med, a benchmarking and regression testing system of Geant4 for medical physics. Materials and Methods: G4-Med currently includes 18 tests. They range from the benchmarking of fundamental physics quantities to the testing of Monte Carlo simulation setups typical of medical physics applications. Both... (More)

Background: Geant4 is a Monte Carlo code extensively used in medical physics for a wide range of applications, such as dosimetry, micro- and nanodosimetry, imaging, radiation protection, and nuclear medicine. Geant4 is continuously evolving, so it is crucial to have a system that benchmarks this Monte Carlo code for medical physics against reference data and to perform regression testing. Aims: To respond to these needs, we developed G4-Med, a benchmarking and regression testing system of Geant4 for medical physics. Materials and Methods: G4-Med currently includes 18 tests. They range from the benchmarking of fundamental physics quantities to the testing of Monte Carlo simulation setups typical of medical physics applications. Both electromagnetic and hadronic physics processes and models within the prebuilt Geant4 physics lists are tested. The tests included in G4-Med are executed on the CERN computing infrastructure via the use of the geant-val web application, developed at CERN for Geant4 testing. The physical observables can be compared to reference data for benchmarking and to results of previous Geant4 versions for regression testing purposes. Results: This paper describes the tests included in G4-Med and shows the results derived from the benchmarking of Geant4 10.5 against reference data. Discussion: Our results indicate that the Geant4 electromagnetic physics constructor G4EmStandardPhysics_option4 gives a good agreement with the reference data for all the tests. The QGSP_BIC_HP physics list provided an overall adequate description of the physics involved in hadron therapy, including proton and carbon ion therapy. New tests should be included in the next stage of the project to extend the benchmarking to other physical quantities and application scenarios of interest for medical physics. Conclusion: The results presented and discussed in this paper will aid users in tailoring physics lists to their particular application.

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organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
benchmarking, Geant4, medical physics, Monte Carlo
in
Medical Physics
volume
48
issue
1
pages
19 - 56
publisher
American Association of Physicists in Medicine
external identifiers
  • scopus:85097506923
  • pmid:32392626
ISSN
0094-2405
DOI
10.1002/mp.14226
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
49df4c34-4fb2-4fb3-89f9-ececc5670899
date added to LUP
2020-12-23 10:33:10
date last changed
2024-04-17 21:48:21
@article{49df4c34-4fb2-4fb3-89f9-ececc5670899,
  abstract     = {{<p>Background: Geant4 is a Monte Carlo code extensively used in medical physics for a wide range of applications, such as dosimetry, micro- and nanodosimetry, imaging, radiation protection, and nuclear medicine. Geant4 is continuously evolving, so it is crucial to have a system that benchmarks this Monte Carlo code for medical physics against reference data and to perform regression testing. Aims: To respond to these needs, we developed G4-Med, a benchmarking and regression testing system of Geant4 for medical physics. Materials and Methods: G4-Med currently includes 18 tests. They range from the benchmarking of fundamental physics quantities to the testing of Monte Carlo simulation setups typical of medical physics applications. Both electromagnetic and hadronic physics processes and models within the prebuilt Geant4 physics lists are tested. The tests included in G4-Med are executed on the CERN computing infrastructure via the use of the geant-val web application, developed at CERN for Geant4 testing. The physical observables can be compared to reference data for benchmarking and to results of previous Geant4 versions for regression testing purposes. Results: This paper describes the tests included in G4-Med and shows the results derived from the benchmarking of Geant4 10.5 against reference data. Discussion: Our results indicate that the Geant4 electromagnetic physics constructor G4EmStandardPhysics_option4 gives a good agreement with the reference data for all the tests. The QGSP_BIC_HP physics list provided an overall adequate description of the physics involved in hadron therapy, including proton and carbon ion therapy. New tests should be included in the next stage of the project to extend the benchmarking to other physical quantities and application scenarios of interest for medical physics. Conclusion: The results presented and discussed in this paper will aid users in tailoring physics lists to their particular application.</p>}},
  author       = {{Arce, P. and Bolst, D. and Bordage, M. C. and Brown, J. M.C. and Cirrone, P. and Cortés-Giraldo, M. A. and Cutajar, D. and Cuttone, G. and Desorgher, L. and Dondero, P. and Dotti, A. and Faddegon, B. and Fedon, C. and Guatelli, S. and Incerti, S. and Ivanchenko, V. and Konstantinov, D. and Kyriakou, I. and Latyshev, G. and Le, A. and Mancini-Terracciano, C. and Maire, M. and Mantero, A. and Novak, M. and Omachi, C. and Pandola, L. and Perales, A. and Perrot, Y. and Petringa, G. and Quesada, J. M. and Ramos-Méndez, J. and Romano, F. and Rosenfeld, A. B. and Sarmiento, L. G. and Sakata, D. and Sasaki, T. and Sechopoulos, I. and Simpson, E. C. and Toshito, T. and Wright, D. H.}},
  issn         = {{0094-2405}},
  keywords     = {{benchmarking; Geant4; medical physics; Monte Carlo}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{1}},
  pages        = {{19--56}},
  publisher    = {{American Association of Physicists in Medicine}},
  series       = {{Medical Physics}},
  title        = {{Report on G4-Med, a Geant4 benchmarking system for medical physics applications developed by the Geant4 Medical Simulation Benchmarking Group}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/mp.14226}},
  doi          = {{10.1002/mp.14226}},
  volume       = {{48}},
  year         = {{2021}},
}