Rui Qiu

Organ dose conversion coefficients on an ICRP-based Chinese adult male voxel model from idealized external photons exposures

A high-resolution whole-body voxel model called CAM representing the Chinese adult male was constructed in this paper based on a previous individual voxel model. There are more than 80 tissues and organs in CAM, including almost all organs required in the ICRP new recommendation. The mass of individual organs has been adjusted to the Chinese reference data. Special considerations were given to representing the gross spatial distribution of various bone constituents as realistically as possible during the construction of the site-specific skeleton. Organ dose conversion coefficients were calculated for six idealized external photon exposures from 10 keV to 10 MeV by using Monte Carlo simulation. The resulting dose coefficients were then compared with those from other models, e.g. CMP, ICRP 74, Rex, HDRK-man and VIP-man. Old and new effective male doses of CAM were calculated by using the tissue weighting factors from ICRP 60 and 103 Publications, respectively. Dosimetric differences between mathematical and voxel models, and the differences between Asian and Caucasian models are also discussed in this paper.

Photon SAF calculation based on the Chinese mathematical phantom and comparison with the ORNL phantoms.

The Chinese mathematical phantom (CMP) is a stylized human body model developed based on the methods of Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) mathematical phantom series (OMPS), and data from Reference Asian Man and Chinese Reference Man. It is constructed for radiation dose estimation for Mongolians, whose anatomical parameters are different from those of Caucasians to some extent. Specific absorbed fractions (SAF) are useful quantities for the primary estimation of internal radiation dose. In this paper, a general Monte Carlo code, Monte Carlo N-Particle Code (MCNP) is used to transport particles and calculate SAF. A new variance reduction technique, called the “pointing probability with force collision” method, is implemented into MCNP to reduce the calculation uncertainty, especially for a small-volume target organ. Finally, SAF data for all 31 organs of both sexes of CMP are calculated. A comparison between SAF based on male phantoms of CMP and OMPS demonstrates that the differences apparently exist, and more than 80% of SAF data based on CMP are larger than that of OMPS. However, the differences are acceptable (the differences are above one order of magnitude only in less than 3% of situations) considering the differences in physique. Furthermore, trends in the SAF with increasing photon energy based on the two phantoms agree well. This model complements existing phantoms of different age, sex and ethnicity.

Simulation on the molecular radiosensitization effect of gold nanoparticles in cells irradiated by x-rays

Abundant studies have focused on the radiosensitization effect of gold nanoparticles (GNPs) in the cellular environment with x-ray irradiation. To better understand the physical foundation and to initially study the molecular radiosensitization effect within the nucleus, a simple cell model with detailed DNA structure in the central nucleus was set up and complemented with different distributions of single and multiple GNPs in this work. With the biophysical Monte Carlo simulation code PARTRAC, the radiosensitization effects on both physical quantities and primary biological responses (DNA strand breaks) were simulated. The ratios of results under situations with GNPs compared to those without GNPs were defined as the enhancement factors (EFs). The simulation results show that the presence of GNP can cause a notable enhancement effect on the energy deposition within a few micrometers from the border of GNP. The greatest upshot appears around the border and is mostly dominated by Auger electrons. The enhancement effect on the DNA strand breakage becomes smaller because of the DNA distribution inside the nucleus, and the corresponding EFs are between 1 and 1.5. In the present simulation, multiple GNPs on the nucleus surface, the 60 kVp x-ray spectrum and the diameter of 100 nm are relatively more effective conditions for both physical and biological radiosensitization effects. These results preliminarily indicate that GNP can be a good radiosensitizer in x-ray radiotherapy. Nevertheless, further biological responses (repair process, cell survival, etc) need to be studied to give more accurate evaluation and practical proposal on GNPs application in clinical treatment.

An ICRP-based Chinese adult male voxel model and its absorbed dose for idealized photon exposures—the skeleton

A site-specific skeleton voxel model for a Chinese adult male was constructed in this paper upon a previous Chinese individual voxel model. The whole skeleton was divided into 19 site-specific bones and bone groups; the mass of various skeleton tissues at each bone site, e.g. red bone marrow, was specified according to Asian reference data and the distribution data from ICRP Publication 70. The resultant voxel model (called CAM) has a resolution of 1.741 mm x 1.741 mm in plane, and the total bone mass is 8397.8 g which is almost equal to the Asian reference value. Dose coefficients for the red bone marrow and bone surface in CAM were calculated, and then compared with those from Rex, CMP and ICRP 74. It shows that the dose to RBM in Rex is generally 12% lower than that to CAM in low-energy range (30-150 keV) for AP, LAT, ROT and ISO geometries. It is also found that the RBM dose from mathematical models, i.e. CMP and ICRP 74, is underestimated by -30% in AP geometry and overestimated by 30% in PA geometry for low-energy photons. Meanwhile, the bone surface dose in the low-energy range is overestimated by 150% and 75% in CMP and ICRP 74, respectively, if compared with that from CAM.

Dose conversion coefficients based on the Chinese mathematical phantom and MCNP code for external photon irradiation.

A set of conversion coefficients from kerma free-in-air to the organ-absorbed dose are presented for external monoenergetic photon beams from 10 keV to 10 MeV based on the Chinese mathematical phantom, a whole-body mathematical phantom model. The model was developed based on the methods of the Oak Ridge National Laboratory mathematical phantom series and data from the Chinese Reference Man and the Reference Asian Man. This work is carried out to obtain the conversion coefficients based on this model, which represents the characteristics of the Chinese population, as the anatomical parameters of the Chinese are different from those of Caucasians. Monte Carlo simulation with MCNP code is carried out to calculate the organ dose conversion coefficients. Before the calculation, the effects from the physics model and tally type are investigated, considering both the calculation efficiency and precision. In the calculation irradiation conditions include anterior-posterior, posterior-anterior, right lateral, left lateral, rotational and isotropic geometries. Conversion coefficients from this study are compared with those recommended in the Publication 74 of International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP74) since both the sets of data are calculated with mathematical phantoms. Overall, consistency between the two sets of data is observed and the difference for more than 60% of the data is below 10%. However, significant deviations are also found, mainly for the superficial organs (up to 65.9%) and bone surface (up to 66%). The big difference of the dose conversion coefficients for the superficial organs at high photon energy could be ascribed to kerma approximation for the data in ICRP74. Both anatomical variations between races and the calculation method contribute to the difference of the data for bone surface.

Inclusion of thin target and source regions in alimentary and respiratory tract systems of mesh-type ICRP adult reference phantoms

It is not feasible to define very small or complex organs and tissues in the current voxel-type adult reference computational phantoms of the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP), which limit dose coefficients for weakly penetrating radiations. To address the problem, the ICRP is converting the voxel-type reference phantoms into mesh-type phantoms. In the present study, as a part of the conversion project, the micrometer-thick target and source regions in the alimentary and respiratory tract systems as described in ICRP Publications 100 and 66 were included in the mesh-type ICRP reference adult male and female phantoms. In addition, realistic lung airway models were simulated to represent the bronchial (BB) and bronchiolar (bb) regions. The electron specific absorbed fraction (SAF) values for the alimentary and respiratory tract systems were then calculated and compared with the values calculated with the stylized models of ICRP Publications 100 and 66. The comparisons show generally good agreement for the oral cavity, oesophagus, and BB, whereas for the stomach, small intestine, large intestine, extrathoracic region, and bb, there are some differences (e.g. up to ~9 times in the large intestine). The difference is mainly due to anatomical difference in these organs between the realistic mesh-type phantoms and the simplified stylized models. The new alimentary and respiratory tract models in the mesh-type ICRP reference phantoms preserve the topology and dimensions of the voxel-type ICRP phantoms and provide more reliable SAF values than the simplified models adopted in previous ICRP Publications.

ORGAN DOSE CONVERSION COEFFICIENTS FOR EXTERNAL PHOTON IRRADIATION USING THE CHINESE VOXEL PHANTOM (CVP)

A set of conversion coefficients from kerma free-in-air to the organ absorbed dose are presented for external monoenergetic photon beams from 10 keV to 10 MeV based on a whole-body, Chinese adult male voxel phantom. This computational phantom, called the Chinese voxel phantom (CVP), including totally 23 organs, was developed from magnetic resonance imaging of a young healthy Chinese man at a resolution of 2 x 2 mm. Compared with the ICRP Reference Man, more than half of the organs or tissues in the CVP show mass differences of more than 20. Monte Carlo simulations with MCNP code were carried out to calculate the organ dose conversion coefficients. Irradiation conditions include anterior-posterior, posterior-anterior (PA), right-lateral, left-lateral, rotational and isotropic geometries. Organ dose conversion coefficients from this study are compared with the data from the Asian voxel phantoms Visible Chinese Human and KORMAN. These data sets agree with each other within 10% for photon energy >5 MeV. However, discrepancies of 34-63% were observed for organs of the alimentary tract, such as the oesophagus and stomach, those of the urinary system, such as the bladder wall and thyroid, especially at low photon energy range and PA geometry. These results suggest that the anatomical variation within the Chinese population, as represented by these adult male voxel phantoms, can lead to uncertainties when a standard phantom is used for the entire population.

Construction of Chinese adult male phantom library and its application in the virtual calibration of in vivo measurement.

In vivo measurement is a main method of internal contamination evaluation, particularly for large numbers of people after a nuclear accident. Before the practical application, it is necessary to obtain the counting efficiency of the detector by calibration. The virtual calibration based on Monte Carlo simulation usually uses the reference human computational phantom, and the morphological difference between the monitored personnel with the calibrated phantom may lead to the deviation of the counting efficiency. Therefore, a phantom library containing a wide range of heights and total body masses is needed. In this study, a Chinese reference adult male polygon surface (CRAM_S) phantom was constructed based on the CRAM voxel phantom, with the organ models adjusted to match the Chinese reference data. CRAM_S phantom was then transformed to sitting posture for convenience in practical monitoring. Referring to the mass and height distribution of the Chinese adult male, a phantom library containing 84 phantoms was constructed by deforming the reference surface phantom. Phantoms in the library have 7 different heights ranging from 155 cm to 185 cm, and there are 12 phantoms with different total body masses in each height. As an example of application, organ specific and total counting efficiencies of Ba-133 were calculated using the MCNPX code, with two series of phantoms selected from the library. The influence of morphological variation on the counting efficiency was analyzed. The results show only using the reference phantom in virtual calibration may lead to an error of 68.9% for total counting efficiency. Thus the influence of morphological difference on virtual calibration can be greatly reduced using the phantom library with a wide range of masses and heights instead of a single reference phantom.

DNA strand breaks induced by electrons simulated with Nanodosimetry Monte Carlo Simulation Code: NASIC

The method of Monte Carlo simulation is a powerful tool to investigate the details of radiation biological damage at the molecular level. In this paper, a Monte Carlo code called NASIC (Nanodosimetry Monte Carlo Simulation Code) was developed. It includes physical module, pre-chemical module, chemical module, geometric module and DNA damage module. The physical module can simulate physical tracks of low-energy electrons in the liquid water event-by-event. More than one set of inelastic cross sections were calculated by applying the dielectric function method of Emfietzoglous optical-data treatments, with different optical data sets and dispersion models. In the pre-chemical module, the ionised and excited water molecules undergo dissociation processes. In the chemical module, the produced radiolytic chemical species diffuse and react. In the geometric module, an atomic model of 46 chromatin fibres in a spherical nucleus of human lymphocyte was established. In the DNA damage module, the direct damages induced by the energy depositions of the electrons and the indirect damages induced by the radiolytic chemical species were calculated. The parameters should be adjusted to make the simulation results be agreed with the experimental results. In this paper, the influence study of the inelastic cross sections and vibrational excitation reaction on the parameters and the DNA strand break yields were studied. Further work of NASIC is underway.

Monte Carlo calculation of conversion coefficients for dose estimation in mammography based on a 3D detailed breast model

Purpose At present, the Chinese specification for testing of quality control in x‐ray mammography is based on a simple breast model, and does not consider the glandular tissue distribution in the breast. In order to more precisely estimate the mean glandular dose (MGD) in mammography for Chinese women, a three‐dimensional (3D) detailed breast model based on realistic structures in the breast and Chinese female breast parameters was built and applied in this study. Methods To characterize the Chinese female breast, Chinese female breast parameters including breast size, compressed breast thickness (CBT), and glandular content were investigated in this study. A mathematical model with the detailed breast structures was constructed based on the Chinese female breast parameters. The mathematical model was then converted to a voxel model with voxels. The voxel model was compressed in craniocaudal (CC) view to obtain a deformation model. The compressed breast model was combined with the Chinese reference adult female whole‐body voxel phantom (CRAF) to study the effects of backscatter from the female body. Monte Carlo simulations of the glandular dose in mammography were performed with Geant 4. The glandular tissue dose conversion coefficients for breasts with different glandular contents (5%, 25%, 50%, 75%, and 100% glandularity) and CBTs (3 cm, 4 cm, 5 cm, and 6 cm) were calculated, respectively, at various x‐ray tube voltages (25 kV, 28 kV, 30 kV, 32 kV, and 35 kV) for various target/filter combinations (Mo/Mo, Mo/Rh, Rh/Rh, and W/Rh). Results A series of glandular tissue dose conversion coefficients for dose estimation in mammography were calculated. The conversion coefficients calculated in this study were compared with those estimated with the simple breast model. A discrepancy of 5.4–38.0% was observed. This was consistent with the results obtained from the realistic breast models in the literature. Conclusions A 3D detailed breast model with realistic structures in the breast was constructed based on the Chinese female breast parameters. It was used to calculate glandular tissue dose conversion coefficients for mammography. Although the accuracy of the proposed model could not be directly assessed, the consistency of the obtained results with previously performed analyses increases the confidence in the applicability of the proposed model. The proposed model could be used in dose estimation and dose optimization for mammography of Chinese women.