The mathematical tool, quite used in Medical Physics, takes its name from the city of Montecarlo, well-known for its bingo halls and games of chance.
It allows to carry out calculations taking into account all the physical magnitudes that come into play when the particle beam making up the radiation acts on the patient. Leticia Rojas Calderon's doctoral thesis "Dosimetria Monte Carlo en geometría simples con interfaces: aplicaciones en radioterapia" (Dosimetry Monte Carlo in simple geometries with interfaces: applications in radiotherapy) studies - under the supervision of the Professor of the University of Granada, Antonio M. Lallena Rojo - aspects related to dosimetry of different treatments with radiotherapy through simulations carried out with Monte Carlo.
"We intend to detect the implications of the interfaces and the different materials surrounding the tumor in the dosimetry of the troubles in question", Lallena points out. In many cases, calculations are carried out without considering the interfaces. However, in the human body there are different materials that influence the final dose placed on the tumors.
They have centred on three kinds of troubles which have in common the presence of interfaces. Thus, the so-called craniopharyngiomas have been studied with a concentric-sphere model to take into account the different materials. Such tumors appearing inside the head are usually treated injecting gel-shaped radionuclides, causing their reduction or disappearance. The habitual practice is carrying out the dosimetry by analytical calculations, considering that all the region of interest is the same material, tender tissue or water.