Monte Carlo Methods for Medical Physics: A Practical Introduction

The Monte Carlo (MC) method, established as the gold standard to predict results of physical processes, is now fast becoming a routine clinical tool for applications that range from quality control to treatment verification. This book provides a basic understanding of the fundamental principles and limitations of the MC method in the interpretation and validation of results for various scenarios. It shows how user-friendly and speed optimized MC codes can achieve online image processing or dose calculations in a clinical setting. It introduces this essential method with emphasis on applications in hardware design and testing, radiological imaging, radiation therapy, and radiobiology.