Organ Dose Conversion Coefficients for Pediatric Reference Computational Phantoms in External Photon Radiation Fields
Creator
Chang, Lienard Anthony
Advisor
Jorgensen, Timothy J
Abstract
In the event of a radiological accident or attack, it is important to estimate the organ doses to those exposed. In general, it is difficult to measure organ dose directly in the field and therefore dose conversion coefficients (DCC) are needed to convert measurable values such as air kerma to organ dose. Previous work on these coefficients has been conducted mainly for adults with a focus on radiation protection workers. Hence, there is a large gap in the literature for pediatric values. This study coupled a Monte Carlo N-Particle eXtended (MCNPX) code with International Council of Radiological Protection (ICRP)-adopted University of Florida and National Cancer Institute pediatric reference phantoms to calculate a comprehensive list of dose conversion coefficients (mGy/mGy) to convert air-kerma to organ dose. Parameters included ten phantoms (newborn, 1-year, 5-year, 10-year, 15-year old male and female), 28 organs over 33 energies between 0.01 and 20 MeV in six (6) irradiation geometries relevant to a child who might be exposed to a radiological release: anterior-posterior (AP), posterior-anterior (PA), right-lateral (RLAT), left-lateral (LLAT), rotational (ROT), and isotropic (ISO). Dose conversion coefficients to the red bone marrow over 36 skeletal sites were also calculated. It was hypothesized that the pediatric organ dose conversion coefficients would follow similar trends to the published adult values as dictated by human anatomy, but be of a higher magnitude. It was found that while the pediatric coefficients did yield similar patterns to that of the adult coefficients, depending on the organ and irradiation geometry, the pediatric values could be lower or higher than that of the adult coefficients.
Description
M.S.
Permanent Link
http://hdl.handle.net/10822/760868Date Published
2015Subject
Type
Publisher
Georgetown University
Extent
41 leaves
Metadata
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