• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.93-99
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• 2001

Voxel head phantom for overcoming the limitation of mathematical phantom in depleting anatomical details was constructed and example dose calculation for BNCT was performed. The repeated structure algorithm of the general purpose Monte Carlo code, MCNP4B was applied for yokel Monte Carlo calculation. Simple binary yokel phantom and combinatorial geometry phantom composed of two materials were constructed for validating the voxel Monte Carlo calculation system. The tomographic images of VHP man provided by NLM(National Library of Medicine) were segmented and indexed to construct yokel head phantom. Comparison of doses for broad parallel gamma and neutron beams in AP and PA directions showed decrease of brain dose due to the attenuation of neutron in eye balls in case of yokel head phantom. The spherical tumor volume with diameter, 5cm was defined in the center of brain for BNCT dose calculation in which accurate 3 dimensional dose calculation is essential. As a result of BNCT dose calculation for downward neutron beam of 10keV and 40keV, the tumor dose is about doubled when boron concentration ratio between the tumor to the normal tissue is $30{\mu}g/g$ to $3{\mu}g/g$. This study established the voxel Monte Carlo calculation system and suggested the feasibility of precise dose calculation in therapeutic radiology.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.215-223
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• 1999

Characteristics of radiation field in the steam generator(S/G) water chamber of a PWR were investigated and the anticipated effective dose rates to the worker in the S/G chamber were evaluated by Monte Carlo simulation. The results of crud analysis in the S/G of the Kori nuclear power plant unit 1 were adopted for the source term. The MCNP4A code was used with the MIRD type anthropomorphic sex-specific mathematical phantoms for the calculation of effective doses. The radiation field intensity is dominated by downward rays, from the U-tube region, having approximate cosine distribution with respect to the polar angle. The effective dose rates to adults of nominal body size and of small body size(The phantom for a 15 year-old person was applied for this purpose) appeared to be 36.22 and 37.06 $mSvh^{-1}$) respectively, which implies that the body size effect is negligible. Meanwhile, the equivalent dose rates at three representative positions corresponding to head, chest and lower abdomen of the phantom, calculated using the estimated exposure rates, the energy spectrum and the conversion coefficients given in ICRU47, were 118, 71 and 57 $mSvh^{-1}$, respectively. This implies that the deep dose equivalent or the effective dose obtained from the personal dosimeter reading would be the over-estimate the effective dose by about two times. This justifies, with possible under- or over- response of the dosimeters to radiation of slant incidence, necessity of very careful planning and interpretation for the dosimetry of workers exposed to a non-regular radiation field of high intensity.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.155-164
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• 2002

Methodology to evaluate the effective doses to adults undergoing various diagnostic x-ray examinations were established by Monte Carlo simulation of the x-ray examinations. Anthropomorphic mathematical phantoms, the MIRD5 male phantom and the ORNL female phantom, were used as the target body and x-ray spectra were produced by the x-ray spectrum generation code SPEC78. The computational procedure was validated by comparing the resulting doses to the results of NRPB studies for the same diagnostic procedures. The effective doses as well as the organ doses due to chest, abdomen, head and spine examinations were calculated for x-rays incident from AP, PA, LLAT and RLAT directions. For instance, the effective doses from the most common procedures, chest PA and abdomen AP, were 0.029 mSv and 0.44 mSv, respectively. The fact that the effective dose from PA chest x-ray is far lower than the traditional value of 0.3 mSv(or 30 mrem), which results partly from the advances of technology in diagnostic radiology and partly from the differences in the dose concept employed, emphasizes necessities of intensive assessment of the patient doses in wide ranges of medical exposures. The methodology and tools established in this study can easily be applied to dose assessments for other radiology procedures; dose from CT examinations, dose to the fetus due to examinations of pregnant women, dose from pediatric radiology.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.35-42
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• 2003

Methodology for calculating the organ equivalent doses and the effective doses of pediatric and adult patients undergoing medical X-ray examinations were established. The MIRD-type mathematical phantoms of 4 age groups were constructed with addition of the esophagus to the same phantoms. Two typical examination procedures, chest PA and abdomen AP, were simulated for the pediatric patients as well as the adult as illustrative examples. The results confirmed that patients pick up approximate 0.03 mSv of effective dose from a single chest PA examination, and 0.4 to 1.7 mSv from an abdomen AP examination depending on the ages. For dose calculations where irradiation is made with a limited field, the details of the position, size and shape of the organs and the organ depth from the entrance surface considerably affect the resulting doses. Therefore, it is important to optimize radiation protection by control of X-ray properties and beam examination field. The calculation result, provided in this study, can be used to implement optimization for medical radiation protection.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.13 no.5
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• pp.791-799
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• 2019

We evaluated the physical properties that occur to dose enhancement and changes from secondary particle production resulting from the interaction between enhancement material. Geant4 was used to perform a Monte Carlo simulation, and the medical internal radiation dose (MIRD) head phantom were employed. X-rays of 4, 6, 10, 15, 18, and 25 MV were used. Aurum (Au) and gadolinium (Gd) were applied within the tumor volume at 10, 20, and 30 mg/g, and an experiment using soft tissue exclusively was concomitantly performed for comparison. Also, particle fluence and initial kinetic energy of secondary particle of interaction were measured to calculate equivalent doses using the radiation weight factor. The properties of physical interaction by the radiation enhancement material showed the great increased in photoelectric effect as compared to the compton scattering and pair production, occurred with the highest, in aurum and gadolinium it is shown in common. The photonuclear effect frequency increased as the energy increased, thereby increasing secondary particle production, including alpha particles, protons, and neutrons. During dose enhancement using aurum, a maximum 424.25-fold increase in the equivalent dose due to neutrons was observed. This study was Monte Carlo simulation corresponds to the physical process of energy transmission in dose enhancement. Its results may be used as a basis for future in vivo and in vitro experiments aiming to improve effects of dose enhancement.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.55 no.1
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• pp.248-253
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• 2023

Directly, it is not possible to measure the absorbed dose of radiopharmaceuticals in the organs of the human body. Therefore, simulation methods are utilized to estimate the dose in distinct organs. In this study, individual organs were separately considered as the source organ or target organ to calculate the mean absorption dose, which SAF and S factors were then calculated according to the target uptake via MIRD method. Here, ^99mTc activity distribution within the target was analyzed using the definition and simulation of ideal organs by summing the fraction of cumulative activities of the heart as source organ. Thus, GATE code was utilized to simulate the Zubal humanoid phantom. To validate the outcomes in comparison to the similar results reported, the accumulation of activity in the main organs of the body was calculated at the moment of injection and cardiac rest condition after 60 min of injection. The results showed the highest dose absorbed into pancreas was about 21%, then gallbladder 18%, kidney 16%, spleen 15%, heart 8%, liver 8%, thyroid 7%, lungs 5% and brain 2%, respectively, after 1 h of injection. This distinct simulation model may also be used for different periods after injection and modifying the prescribed dose.

• Journal of radiological science and technology
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.41-47
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• 2008

In order to better understand the effects of absorbed radioiodine upon Korean reference adult male, a mathematical phantom representation was contrived based on composite data of the physiology of Korean reference adult male. Using this, S-values of radioiodine($^{131}I$) per each organ were calculated. The calculated S-values were compared to the existing data described in the TM-8381 report of ORNLcalculated on the basis of an ICRP-23 reference male. The results indicated that S-values were higher for the phantom based on Korean reference adult male. The results of this study illustrate that, while the bio-chemical constitution of each source and target organ of the torso are important, the relative location of the organs and characteristics of the radionuclides also exert important influences.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.38 no.3
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• pp.239-250
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• 2006

Computational anthropomorphic phantoms are computer models of human anatomy used in the calculation of radiation dose distribution in the human body upon exposure to a radiation source. Depending on the manner to represent human anatomy, they are categorized into two classes: stylized and tomographic phantoms. Stylized phantoms, which have mainly been developed at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), describe human anatomy by using simple mathematical equations of analytical geometry. Several improved stylized phantoms such as male and female adults, pediatric series, and enhanced organ models have been developed following the first hermaphrodite adult stylized phantom, Medical Internal Radiation Dose (MIRD)-5 phantom. Although stylized phantoms have significantly contributed to dosimetry calculation, they provide only approximations of the true anatomical features of the human body and the resulting organ dose distribution. An alternative class of computational phantom, the tomographic phantom, is based upon three-dimensional imaging techniques such as magnetic resonance (MR) imaging and computed tomography (CT). The tomographic phantoms represent the human anatomy with a large number of voxels that are assigned tissue type and organ identity. To date, a total of around 30 tomographic phantoms including male and female adults, pediatric phantoms, and even a pregnant female, have been developed and utilized for realistic radiation dosimetry calculation. They are based on MRI/CT images or sectional color photos from patients, volunteers or cadavers. Several investigators have compared tomographic phantoms with stylized phantoms, and demonstrated the superiority of tomographic phantoms in terms of realistic anatomy and dosimetry calculation. This paper summarizes the history and current status of both stylized and tomographic phantoms, including Korean computational phantoms. Advantages, limitations, and future prospects are also discussed.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.38 no.4
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• pp.237-241
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• 2013

The gamma energy distributions at the major working places during refueling outage of Korean PWR nuclear power plants were measured. In order to estimate the dose reduction effect of a lead vest, Monte Carlo calculation method was used. For the simulations, the MIRD-V phantom with a lead vest was formed and exposed to the measured radiation field. The average measured gamma energy is lower than that of standard which is generally applied to radiation protection procedures. For the efficient use of a lead vest and achievement of radiation protection purpose, it is necessary to estimate the energy distribution of radiation field at working places.

• Journal of radiological science and technology
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• v.43 no.6
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• pp.443-451
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• 2020

This study is to evaluate absorbed dose from right lung for brachytherapy and to estimate the effects of tissue heterogeneities on dose distribution for Iridium-192 source using Monte Carlo simulation. The study employed Geant4 code as Monte Carlo simulation to calculate the dosimetry parameters. The dose distribution of Iridium-192 source in solid water equivalent phantom including aluminium plate or steel plate inserted was calculated and compared with the measured dose by the ion chamber at various distances. And the simulation was used to evaluate the dose of gamma radiation absorbed in the lung organ and other organs around it. The dose distribution embedded in right lung was calculated due to the presence of heart, thymus, spine, stomach as well as left lung. The geometry of the human body was made up of adult male MIRD type of the computational human phantom. The dosimetric characteristics obtained for aluminium plate inserted were in good agreement with experimental results within 4%. The simulation results of steel plate inserted agreed well with a maximum difference 2.75%. Target organ considered to receive a dose of 100%, the surrounding organs were left the left lung of 3.93%, heart of 10.04%, thymus of 11.19%, spine of 12.64% and stomach of 0.95%. When the statistical error is performed for the computational human phantom, the statistical error of value is under 1%.