• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.54 no.2
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• pp.681-688
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• 2022

Dose monitoring in CT patients requires accurate dose estimation but most of the CT dose calculation tools are based on Caucasian computational phantoms. We established a library of organ dose conversion coefficients for Korean adults by using four Korean adult male and two female voxel phantoms combined with Monte Carlo simulation techniques. We calculated organ dose conversion coefficients for head, chest, abdomen and pelvis, and chest-abdomen-pelvis scans, and compared the results with the existing data calculated from Caucasian phantoms. We derived representative organ doses for Korean adults using Korean CT dose surveys combined with the dose conversion coefficients. The organ dose conversion coefficients from the Korean adult phantoms were slightly greater than those of the ICRP reference phantoms: up to 13% for the brain doses in head scans and up to 10% for the dose to the small intestine wall in abdominal scans. We derived Korean representative doses to major organs in head, chest, and AP scans using mean CTDI_vol values extracted from the Korean nationwide surveys conducted in 2008 and 2017. The Korean-specific organ dose conversion coefficients should be useful to readily estimate organ absorbed doses for Korean adult male and female patients undergoing CT scans.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.46 no.3
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• pp.98-105
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• 2021

Background: In recent events of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, computed tomography (CT) scans are being globally used as a complement to the reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) tests. It will be important to be aware of major organ dose levels, which are more relevant quantity to derive potential long-term adverse effect, for Korean pediatric and adult patients undergoing CT for COVID-19. Materials and Methods: We calculated organ dose conversion coefficients for Korean pediatric and adult CT patients directly from Korean pediatric and adult computational phantoms combined with Monte Carlo radiation transport techniques. We then estimated major organ doses delivered to the Korean child and adult patients undergoing CT for COVID-19 combining the dose conversion coefficients and the international survey data. We also compared our Korean dose conversion coefficients with those from Caucasian reference pediatric and adult phantoms. Results and Discussion: Based on the dose conversion coefficients we established in this study and the international survey data of COVID-19-related CT scans, we found that Korean 7-year-old child and adult males may receive about 4-32 mGy and 3-21 mGy of lung dose, respectively. We learned that the lung dose conversion coefficient for the Korean child phantom was up to 1.5-fold greater than that for the Korean adult phantom. We also found no substantial difference in dose conversion coefficients between Korean and Caucasian phantoms. Conclusion: We estimated radiation dose delivered to the Korean child and adult phantoms undergoing COVID-19-related CT examinations. The dose conversion coefficients derived for different CT scan types can be also used universally for other dosimetry studies concerning Korean CT scans. We also confirmed that the Caucasian-based CT organ dose calculation tools may be used for the Korean population with reasonable accuracy.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.41 no.4
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• pp.424-435
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• 2016

Background: The International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) recommendations and the Federal Guidance Report (FGR) published by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) have been widely applied worldwide in the fields of radiation protection and dose assessment. The dose conversion coefficients of the ICRP and FGR are widely used for assessing exposure doses. However, before the coefficients are used, the user must thoroughly understand the derivation process of the coefficients to ensure that they are used appropriately in the evaluation. Materials and Methods: The ICRP provides recommendations to regulatory and advisory agencies, mainly in the form of guidance on the fundamental principles on which appropriate radiological protection can be based. The FGR provides federal and state agencies with technical information to assist their implementation of radiation protection programs for the U.S. population. The system of radiation dose assessment and dose conversion coefficients in the ICRP and FGR is reviewed in this study. Results and Discussion: A thorough understanding of their background is essential for the proper use of dose conversion coefficients. The FGR dose assessment system was strongly influenced by the ICRP and the U.S. National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements (NCRP), and is hence consistent with those recommendations. Moreover, the ICRP and FGR both used the scientific data reported by Biological Effects of Ionizing Radiation (BEIR) and United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation (UNSCEAR) as their primary source of information. The difference between the ICRP and FGR lies in the fact that the ICRP utilized information regarding a population of diverse races, whereas the FGR utilized data on the American population, as its goal was to provide guidelines for radiological protection in the US. Conclusion: The contents of this study are expected to be utilized as basic research material in the areas of radiation protection and dose assessment.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.47 no.3
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• pp.158-166
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• 2022

Background: The effects of radiation on the health of radiation workers who are constantly susceptible to occupational exposure must be assessed based on an accurate and reliable reconstruction of organ-absorbed doses that can be calculated using personal dosimeter readings measured as H_p(10) and dose conversion coefficients. However, the data used in the dose reconstruction contain significant biases arising from the lack of reality and could result in an inaccurate measure of organ-absorbed doses. Therefore, this study quantified the biases involved in organ dose reconstruction and calculated the bias-corrected H_p(10)-to-organ-absorbed dose coefficients for the use in epidemiological studies of Korean radiation workers. Materials and Methods: Two major biases were considered: (a) the bias in H_p(10) arising from the difference between the dosimeter calibration geometry and the actual exposure geometry, and (b) the bias in air kerma-to-H_p(10) conversion coefficients resulting from geometric differences between the human body and slab phantom. The biases were quantified by implementing personal dosimeters on the slab and human phantoms coupled with a Monte Carlo method and considered to calculate the bias-corrected H_p(10)-to-organ-absorbed dose conversion coefficients. Results and Discussion: The bias in H_p(10) was significant for large incident angles and low energies (e.g., 0.32 for right lateral at 218 keV), whereas the bias in dose coefficients was significant for the posteroanterior (PA) geometry only (e.g., 0.79 at 218 keV). The bias-corrected H_p(10)-to-organ-absorbed dose conversion coefficients derived in this study were up to 3.09- fold greater than those from the International Commission on Radiological Protection publications without considering the biases. Conclusion: The obtained results will aid future studies in assessing the health effects of occupational exposure of Korean radiation workers. The bias-corrected dose coefficients of this study can be used to calculate organ doses for Korean radiation workers based on personal dose records.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.42 no.1
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• pp.89-96
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• 2010

This paper describes the methodology of calculating the internal dose conversion coefficient in order to assess the radiological impact on non-human species. This paper also presents the internal dose conversion coefficients of 25 radionuclides ($^3H,\;^7Be,\;^{14}C,\;^{40}K,\;^{51}Cr,\;^{54}Mn,\;^{59}Fe,\;^{58}Co,\;^{60}Co,\;^{65}Zn,\;^{90}Sr,\;^{95}Nb,\;^{99}Tc,\;^{106}Ru,\;^{129}I,\;^{131}I,\;^{136}Cs,\;^{137}Cs,\;^{140}Ba,\;^{140}La,\;^{144}Ce,\;^{238}U,\;^{239}Pu,\;^{240}Pu$) for domestic seven reference animals (roe deer, rat, frog, snake, Chinese minnow, bee, and earthworm) and one reference plant (pine tree). The uniform isotropic model was applied in order to calculate the internal dose conversion coefficients. The calculated internal dose conversion coefficient (${\mu}Gyd^{-1}$ per $Bqkg^{-1}$) ranged from $10^{-6}$ to $10^{-2}$ according to the type of radionuclides and organisms studied. It turns out that the internal does conversion coefficient was higher for alpha radionuclides, such as $^{238}U,\;^{239}Pu$, and $^{240}Pu$, and for large organisms, such as roe deer and pine tree. The internal dose conversion coefficients of $^{239}U,\;^{240}Pu,\;^{238}U,\;^{14}C,\;^3H$, and $^{99}Tc$ were independent of the organism.

• Environmental Mutagens and Carcinogens
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.108-111
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• 1999

Correlation between the tumorigenic dose (TD) and the maximum tolerated dose (MTD) was examined to search for the most relevant TD values related to the MTD. Using benzo(a)pyrene (B(a)P) 2-yr bioassay data, correlation coefficients between values of $TD_{1-}$50/ and the MTD were estimated from linearized or non-linearlized dose-response curves. The highest correlation coefficients (0.9966-1.0000) were obtained from T $D_{1-}$10/ in linearized dose-response curves while the highest (0.9966-1.0000) were estimated from $TD _{5-}$10/ in non-linearized dose-response eurves. These data suggest that TDs-lo were more closely related to the MTD than the ,$TD_{5-}$10/ in B(a)P 2-yr bioassay and that in lieu of the $TD_{50}$ they could be efficiently applicable to risk assessment and management.ent.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.51 no.3
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• pp.843-852
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• 2019

In the present study, we established a comprehensive dataset of dose coefficients (DCs) of the new meshtype ICRP reference computational phantoms (MRCPs) for idealized external exposures of photons and electrons with the Geant4 code. Subsequently, the DCs for the nine organs/tissues, calculated for their thin radiosensitive target regions, were compared with the values calculated by averaging the absorbed doses over the entire organ/tissue regions to observe the influence of the thin sensitive regions on dose calculations. The result showed that the influences for both photons and electrons were generally insignificant for the majority of organs/tissues, but very large for the skin and eye lens, especially for electrons. Furthermore, the large influence for the skin eventually affected the effective dose calculations for electrons. The DCs of the MRCPs also were compared with the current ICRP-116 values produced with the current ICRP-110 reference phantoms. The result showed that the DCs for the majority of organs/ tissues and effective dose were generally similar to the ICRP-116 values for photons, except for very low energies; however, for electrons, significant differences from the ICRP-116 values were found in the DCs, particularly for superficial organs/tissues and skeletal tissues, and also for effective dose.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.55 no.6
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• pp.1949-1958
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• 2023

The International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) Publication 116 was released to provide a comprehensive dataset of the dose coefficients (DCs) for external exposures produced with the adult reference voxel phantoms of ICRP Publication 110. Although an advanced skeletal dosimetry method for photons and neutrons using fluence-to-dose response functions (DRFs) was introduced in ICRP Publication 116, the ICRP-116 skeletal DCs were calculated by using the simple method conventionally used (i.e., doses to red bone marrow and endosteum approximated by doses to spongiosa and/or medullary cavities). In the present study, the photon and neutron DRFs were used to produce skeletal DCs of the ICRP-110 reference phantoms, which were then compared with the ICRP-116 DCs. For photons, there were significant differences by up to ~2.8 times especially at energies <0.3 MeV. For neutrons, the differences were generally small over the entire energy region (mostly <20%). The general impact of the DRF-based skeletal DCs on the effective dose calculations was negligibly small, supporting the validity of the ICRP-116 effective DCs despite their skeletal DCs derived from the simple method. Meanwhile, we believe that the DRF-based skeletal DCs could be beneficial in better estimates of skeletal doses of individuals for risk assessments.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.47-58
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• 1997

The conversion coefficients of effective dose per unit air kerma and equivalent dose per unit fluence were calculated by MCNP4A code for antero-posterior(AP) and postero- anterior(PA) incidence of broad, unidirectional beams of photons into anthropomorphic MIRD phantom. Calculations have been performed for 20 monoenergetic photons of energy ranging from 0.03 to 10 MeV. The conversion coefficients showed a good agreement with the corresponding values given in the draft publication of joint task group of ICRP and ICRU within 10%. The deviations may arise from the differences of geometry in the MIRD phantom and the ADAM/EVE phantoms, and the differences in the codes and cross-section data used. Inclusion of a specific oesophagus model results in effective dose slightly different(5% at most) from the effective doses obtained by adopting the equivalent doses for the thymus or pancreas. Deletion of the ULI from the remainder organ appeared not to be significant for the cases of photon dosimetry covered in this study.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.205-213
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• 1999

Effective dose conversion coefficients from unit activity radionuclides contaminated on the ground surface were calculated by using MCNP4A rode and male/female anthropomorphic phantoms. The simulation calculations were made for 19 energy points in the range of 40 keV to 10 MeV. The effective doses E resulting from unit source intensity for different energy were compared to the effective dose equivalent $H_E$ of previous studies. Our E values are lower by 30% at low energy than the $H_E$ values given in the Federal Guidance Report of USEPA. The effective dose response functions derived by polynomial fitting of the energy-effective dose relationship are as follows: $f({\varepsilon})[fSv\;m^2]=\;0.0634\;+\;0.727{\varepsilon}-0.0520{\varepsilon}^2+0.00247{\varepsilon}^3,\;where\;{\varepsilon}$ is the gamma energy in MeV. Using the response function and the radionuclide decay data given in ICRP 38, the effective dose conversion coefficients for unit activity contamination on the ground surface were calculated with addition of the skin dose contribution of beta particles determined by use of the DOSEFACTOR code. The conversion coefficients for 90 important radionuclides were evaluated and tabulated. Comparison with the existing data showed that a significant underestimates could be resulted when the old conversion coefficients were used, especially for the nuclides emitting low energy photons or high energy beta particles.