The GPUMCD algorithm showed good agreement against GEANT4 both in the presence and absence of a 1.5 T external magnetic field. The application of 1.5 T magnetic field significantly alters the dose at the interfaces by either increasing or decreasing the dose depending upon the density of the material on either side of the interfaces.

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A new GPU‐based Monte Carlo dose calculation algorithm (GPUMCD), developed by the vendor Elekta for the Monaco treatment planning system (TPS), is capable of modeling dose for both a standard linear accelerator and an Elekta MRI linear accelerator. We have experimentally evaluated this algorithm for a standard Elekta Agility linear accelerator. A beam model was developed in the Monaco TPS (research version 5.09.06) using the commissioned beam data for a 6 MV Agility linac. A heterogeneous phantom representing several scenarios — tumor‐in‐lung, lung, and bone‐in‐tissue — was designed and built. Dose calculations in Monaco were done using both the current clinical Monte Carlo algorithm, XVMC, and the new GPUMCD algorithm. Dose calculations in a Pinnacle TPS were also produced using the collapsed cone convolution (CCC) algorithm with heterogeneity correction. Calculations were compared with the measured doses using an ionization chamber (A1SL) and Gafchromic EBT3 films for 2×2 cm2,5×5 cm2, and 10×2 cm2 field sizes. The percentage depth doses (PDDs) calculated by XVMC and GPUMCD in a homogeneous solid water phantom were within 2%/2 mm of film measurements and within 1% of ion chamber measurements. For the tumor‐in‐lung phantom, the calculated doses were within 2.5%/2.5 mm of film measurements for GPUMCD. For the lung phantom, doses calculated by all of the algorithms were within 3%/3 mm of film measurements, except for the 2×2 cm2 field size where the CCC algorithm underestimated the depth dose by ∼5% in a larger extent of the lung region. For the bone phantom, all of the algorithms were equivalent and calculated dose to within 2%/2 mm of film measurements, except at the interfaces. Both GPUMCD and XVMC showed interface effects, which were more pronounced for GPUMCD and were comparable to film measurements, whereas the CCC algorithm showed these effects poorly.PACS number(s): 87.53.Bn, 87.55.dh, 87.55.km

The deformation and erosion of the structures present in regular NMAR corrected images can be largely reduced by using MVCT priors without tissue segmentation. The attenuation value of metal being incorrect, large dose differences relative to the true value can result when using the conventional NMAR image. This difference can be significantly reduced if MVCT images are used as priors. Reduced tissue deformation, better tissue visualization, and correct information about the electron density of the tissues and metals in the artifact corrected images could help delineate the structures better, as well as calculate radiation dose more correctly, thus enhancing the quality of the radiotherapy treatment planning.

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Magnetic resonance-guided radiation therapy (MR-GRT) offers great potential to improve radiation treatment outcomes by providing more accurate and patient-tailored therapy. Despite superior soft tissue contrast in MRI, one of the challenges towards MRI-only workflows is that the process often requires some sort of ‘MR-invisible’ metal-based devices. In this study, the feasibility of quantitative susceptibility mapping (QSM) for visualization of some MR-invisible radiation therapy devices was studied. Our recently proposed QSM-based algorithm for brachytherapy seed visualization was modified and the feasibility of the optimized algorithm for visualization of different devices including: brachytherapy seeds, plastic interstitial needles, CT-markers and obturators, and different types of fiducial markers in agar, prostate and meat phantoms were studied. All phantoms were scanned using 3T MR scanner with a 3D multi-echo gradient recalled echo (ME-GRE) pulse sequence. The QSM results in all phantoms were compared to CT images for spatial accuracy of the QSM. The applied post-processing algorithm was found to be insensitive to the seeds’ type; also, presence of nearby calcifications had no effect on seed visualization. QSM successfully generated positive contrast for both types of investigated fiducial markers with high spatial accuracy compared to CT. Interstitial needles containing both aluminum-based CT-maker and titanium-based obturators were accurately depicted on the QSM. The proposed QSM-based technique relies on the standard MR pulse sequences and visualize the conventional MR-invisible metallic devices with CT-like positive contrast solely through post-processing. Upon in vivo validation of the technique, QSM may have the potential to replace CT for an MR-only guided radiation therapy.