Evidence map›Paper›PMID 29945681›Full record

ArticleRadiation oncology (London, England)2018

Monte Carlo verification of radiotherapy treatments with CloudMC.

Hector Miras, Rubén Jiménez, Álvaro Perales, José Antonio Terrón, Alejandro Bertolet, Antonio Ortiz, José Macías

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Radiation oncology (London, England), 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
4citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

4 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Modified Geometry ofJournal of personalized medicine · 2022
    Article
  2. Article
  3. Article
  4. Artificial intelligence in radiotherapy.Reports of practical oncology and radiotherapy : journal of Greatpoland Cancer Center in Poznan and Polish Society of Radiation Oncology
    Review
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

7 authors.

Hector MirasDepartment of Medical Physics, Hospital Universitario Virgen Macarena, Av. Doctor Fedriani 3, 41009, Seville, Spain. hector.miras@gmail.com.
Rubén JiménezR&D Division, Icinetic TIC SL, Av. Eduardo Dato 69, 41005, Seville, Spain.
Álvaro PeralesAtomic, Molecular and Nuclear Physics Department, Universidad de Sevilla, Av. Reina Mercedes s/n, 41012, Seville, Spain.
José Antonio TerrónDepartment of Medical Physics, Hospital Universitario Virgen Macarena, Av. Doctor Fedriani 3, 41009, Seville, Spain.
Alejandro BertoletDepartment of Medical Physics, Hospital Universitario Virgen Macarena, Av. Doctor Fedriani 3, 41009, Seville, Spain.
Antonio OrtizDepartment of Medical Physics, Hospital Universitario Virgen Macarena, Av. Doctor Fedriani 3, 41009, Seville, Spain.
José MacíasDepartment of Medical Physics, Hospital Universitario Virgen Macarena, Av. Doctor Fedriani 3, 41009, Seville, Spain.

Funding

Consejería de Salud de la Junta de Andalucía PIN-0215-2017Fundación Progreso y Salud PI-0261-2014 FPS 2014
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundA new implementation has been made on CloudMC, a cloud-based platform presented in a previous work, in order to provide services for radiotherapy treatment verification by means of Monte Carlo in a fast, easy and economical way. A description of the architecture of the application and the new developments implemented is presented together with the results of the tests carried out to validate its performance.

methodsCloudMC has been developed over Microsoft Azure cloud. It is based on a map/reduce implementation for Monte Carlo calculations distribution over a dynamic cluster of virtual machines in order to reduce calculation time. CloudMC has been updated with new methods to read and process the information related to radiotherapy treatment verification: CT image set, treatment plan, structures and dose distribution files in DICOM format. Some tests have been designed in order to determine, for the different tasks, the most suitable type of virtual machines from those available in Azure. Finally, the performance of Monte Carlo verification in CloudMC is studied through three real cases that involve different treatment techniques, linac models and Monte Carlo codes.

resultsConsidering computational and economic factors, D1_v2 and G1 virtual machines were selected as the default type for the Worker Roles and the Reducer Role respectively. Calculation times up to 33 min and costs of 16 € were achieved for the verification cases presented when a statistical uncertainty below 2% (2σ) was required. The costs were reduced to 3-6 € when uncertainty requirements are relaxed to 4%.

conclusionsAdvantages like high computational power, scalability, easy access and pay-per-usage model, make Monte Carlo cloud-based solutions, like the one presented in this work, an important step forward to solve the long-lived problem of truly introducing the Monte Carlo algorithms in the daily routine of the radiotherapy planning process.

Indexed as

Cloud ComputingMonte Carlo MethodAlgorithmsHumansPhantoms, ImagingRadiometryRadiotherapy DosageRadiotherapy Planning, Computer-AssistedSoftwareCloud computingMonte CarloRadiotherapy

Identifiers

PMID29945681
PMCPMC6020449

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.