GATE Simulations of preclinical and clinical scans in emission tomography
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scan simulation emission tomography scan simulation clinical

GATE Description

Simulations of preclinical and clinical scans in emission tomography Emission tomography and especially Positron Emission Tomography (PET) has a fast growing importance in modern medicine for both diagnostic and treatment purposes. At the same time there is a demand for higher imaging quality, accuracy and speed. Enhanced by the wider availability of powerful computer clusters, Monte Carlo simulations are an essential tool for current and future emission tomography developments. Examples for such developments are the design of new medical imaging devices, the optimization of acquisition protocols and the development and assessment of image reconstruction algorithms and correction techniques.Currently there are at least a dozen Monte Carlo simulation packages with different advantages and disadvantages validated for either PET (Positron Emission Tomography) or SPECT (Single Photon Emission Computer Tomography) at different levels of reliability. Accurate and versatile general-purpose simulation packages such as EGS4, MCNP, and most recently Geant4 are available but require a lot of expertise of model emission tomography configurations. SimSET, one of the most powerful dedicated codes enabling PET and SPECT simulations, has the capability to precisely and efficiently model physics phenomena and basic detector designs (e.g. ring detectors and planar detectors), but it also has limitations with respect to the range of detector geometries that can be simulated. Sorteo and SIMIND are other examples of powerful simulation codes for specific applications in PET and SPECT respectively.GATE, the Geant4 Application for Emission Tomography has been developed since 2001 to offer the comprehensive physics modeling abilities of the general purpose codes while making it possible to intuitively configurate an Emission Tomography simulation. It includes well-validated physics models, geometry modeling tools accomodating complex scanner geometries, models for detector electronic response, and efficient visualization utilities. Modelling of CT scans and calculation of dose can also be performed using GATE. What's New in This Release: About the general set-up: · This version is validated for Geant4 9.1 and 9.2 · The Compilation is validated with gcc4.2 / gcc4.1 / gcc4.0 / gcc3.4 / gcc3.3 / gcc3.2 · This version support lmf_v3.0 · Recommended CLHEP version : 2.0.3.2 & 2.0.4.2 · Value for G4VERSION environment variable: 9.1 or 9.2 Regarding the new developments & available functionalities for this version: · Options and command lines to visualize the source positions – Section 7.2.10 in the Users guide for details · Real time management for voxelized source and phantom – Possibility to manage with a macro file time activity curves and organ motions – Section 7.4 in the Users guide for details · Analytical modelling for SPECT collimator – Speed up option using the Angular Response Function (ARF) techniques – See the section 8.9 in the users guide for details · Options and command lines for Random engine and seed selection mechanism – Section 9.2 in the Users guide · Separated particle tracking between the phantom and the detector in the way to speed up the simulation – This is a pure phase space approach with the possibility · to store the phantom tracking particle history and to use it as an input file for the detector tracking – See the section 13.6 in the Users guide for details New example folders are also included: · example_TrackerDetector: How to use the Gate capabilities about the separated tracking between the phantom and detector volumes · example_TimeActivityCurve:How to define a full simulation including phantom motions and Time Activity Curves management · example_ARF: A set of macros to describe analytical modelling of SPECT collimator

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