ABSTRACT
In the most general form, the Monte Carlo (MC) method is a statistical approach to solving mathematical and/or physics problems in the form of integration, derivation, and so on. In the case of radiation therapy of cancer, MC is ideally suited to solve the complex problem of particle transport and energy deposition within a heterogeneous medium, that is, the human body. An extensive review of the MC method in radiotherapy is given by Chetty et al. (2007) and references within. In this chapter, we will provide a review of the most widely used MC codes for patient dose calculation with emphasis on the statistical uncertainties, denoising and smoothing methods, Hounsfield unit (HU) to medium conversion, deformable registration, and inverse planning with MC.
