A deterministic partial differential equation model for dose calculation in electron radiotherapy

High-energy ionizing radiation is a prominent modality for the treatment of many cancers. The approaches to electron dose calculation can be categorized into semi-empirical models (e.g. Fermi–Eyges, convolution-superposition) and probabilistic methods (e.g. Monte Carlo). A third approach to dose calculation has only recently attracted attention in the medical physics community. This approach is based on the deterministic kinetic equations of radiative transfer. We derive a macroscopic partial differential equation model for electron transport in tissue. This model involves an angular closure in the phase space. It is exact for the free streaming and the isotropic regime. We solve it numerically by a newly developed HLLC scheme based on Berthon et al (2007 J. Sci. Comput. 31 347–89) that exactly preserves the key properties of the analytical solution on the discrete level. We discuss several test cases taken from the medical physics literature. A test case with an academic Henyey–Greenstein scattering kernel is considered. We compare our model to a benchmark discrete ordinate solution. A simplified model of electron interactions with tissue is employed to compute the dose of an electron beam in a water phantom, and a case of irradiation of the vertebral column. Here our model is compared to the PENELOPE Monte Carlo code. In the academic example, the fluences computed with the new model and a benchmark result differ by less than 1%. The depths at half maximum differ by less than 0.6%. In the two comparisons with Monte Carlo, our model gives qualitatively reasonable dose distributions. Due to the crude interaction model, these so far do not have the accuracy needed in clinical practice. However, the new model has a computational cost that is less than one-tenth of the cost of a Monte Carlo simulation. In addition, simulations can be set up in a similar way as a Monte Carlo simulation. If more detailed effects such as coupled electron–photon transport, bremsstrahlung, Compton scattering and the production of δ electrons are added to our model, the computation time will only slightly increase. Its margin of error, on the other hand, will decrease and should be within a few per cent of the actual dose. Therefore, the new model has the potential to become useful for dose calculations in clinical practice.