FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions

What CARMEN can and cannot do, and how! Please, feel free to make us specific questions

  • Can CARMEN verify my plannings in order to obtain Monte Carlo calculation of a case without any dependence of my TPS?

Yes, you can compare with CARMEN any TPSs solutions with a MC dose calculation. MC results can be based just on the final dose calculation in the patient CT, or by considering also the explicit transport of the beam along your linac head. For the first option, you only need to include in CARMEN the CT calibration curve for a conversion to materials and physical density. For the second option, it is necessary a previous modelization of your linac and a characterization of your energy beam. This last process can be supported by our group in few weeks.

  • Is it possible to make an experimental comparison of TPS solutions facing to matrices from film measurements and/or array detectors?

Yes, it is. You can obtain a report including gamma 2D/3D index, matrix subtraction, profiles… Furthermore, you can control the grid resolution of each matrix for a fair comparison. Typical handicaps such as co-registration and others can be overcome by means the application of mutual information algorithms and others.

  • I am interested on the segmentation process of structures from PET/CT studies. Could be possible to assess the effect of different approaches on the whole planning process?

CARMEN has a flexible editor of structures which include several segmentation algorithms for SUV managing and CT number. Even you could update your own approaches for the generation of structures which will be integrated in the actual case, for planning or dose evaluation with CARMEN or with your TPS by means of DICOM export.

  • I already have got my own phase space data files. Could I include this information in CARMEN for multiple purposes?

Yes, you can. Anyway, the implementation of these data has to be done by us for this stand-alone version of CARMEN.

  • CARMEN is able for planning?

The whole of algorithms developed for CARMEN platform, including our optimization solutions for treatment planning, allow the planning of cases from the set of initial data as usual in a conventional TPS. It would be possible to include different dose engines based on commercial algorithms and Monte Carlo codes for the dose calculation. Our group usually works with BEAMnrc and DOSXYZnrc user codes for the planning mode. In our case, the use of our results are under BEAM general license (https://www.nrc-cnrc.gc.ca/eng/solutions/advisory/beam/license_agreement.html). Please, read also our page ‘Collaborate with us’.