What we did last time…

 Internal Dosimetry intro

 SEE
 Dose from first principles
Biological Dose
 Puts all radiations of the same scale of
biological damage significance
20
D DLow 50
RBE     2. 5
Dn DHigh 20

10

0
10 20 30 40 50

Read Chapter 7 in Cember for a good overview.

Basic Concepts
 Absorbed dose
 Physical quantity
 D = dE/dm
 dE is the mean energy imparted by ionizing
radiation in mass m
 erg/g or J/kg (Gy)
 Dose equivalent (H)
 Relates absorbed dose with a factor that
considers “biological effectiveness” of radiation in
doing damage
 H = D*Q or D*wR (Sievert, Sv)
Equivalent Dose
 Radiation weighted dose is denoted
by units of Sv (Rem).
 This is known as the equivalent dose.
 The equivalent dose is simply the
absorbed dose multiplied by a
radiation weighting factor, wR
(quality factor, Q)
 Canada uses the radiation weighting
factor (ICRP60) approach
 See Table 7.15 in Cember
Radiation Weighting Factors, wR
Radiation type and Radiation weighting
energy factor wR Sieverts Gray
Photons, all energies 1
Electrons, muons, all
1 H   wR  DR
energies R
Neutrons  
< 10 keV 5
10 keV to 100 keV 10 Sum over all
> 100 keV to 2 MeV 20 radiation
> 2 MeV to 20 MeV 10 types
> 20 MeV 5
Protons > 2 MeV 5
Alpha particles, fission
20
fragments, heavy nuclei
Summary of Equivalent Units
 Old dose unit was Rad (Radiation
Absorbed Dose)
 New dose unit is Gy (Gray)
 100 Rad = 1 Gy
 Old dose equivalent unit was Rem
(Roentgen Equivalent Man)
 New dose equivalent unit is Sv
(Sievert; pronounced See-vert)
 Rem = Rad x Q…..or….. Sv = Gy x wr
The previous class discussion on
internalized radionuclides was very
appropriate for short range particles.

What about long range particles like

photons?
Photons (let’s say, Gammas)
 You cannot simply calculate the absorbed
dose by assuming the organ to be
infinitely large, because gammas are
highly penetrating (unlike alphas or
betas).
 As such, only a fraction of the energy
carried by photons originating in the
isotope containing tissue will be absorbed
within that tissue.
 Therefore, we need a different approach
compared to charged particles
Internal Dosimetry Prescriptions:
MIRD & Other Dosimetry Methods
Calculating Internal Dose
 Arbitrarily shaped container

Distributed activity
Calculate energy absorbed per unit mass
Internal Dose (cont)
 Consider:
 Energy per decay
 Total activity
 Mass of container (think: organ)
 Fraction of energy emitted which is absorbed
in container (called “target”)
 “absorbed fraction”
= (Energy absorbed by target)/(energy
emitted by source)
Absorbed fraction (φ)
 Consider
 Photons (“penetrating radiation”)
 Fraction energy absorbed in target

 Fraction energy escapes

 Betas (“non-penetrating radiation”)

 All energy absorbed in target

 Exception: if extremely small targets

 Alphas (non-penetrating) “Easy”
 All energy absorbed in target

 Exception: if even smaller target

than for betas

Computed and tabulated using Monte Carlo Methods

 Specific Absorbed Fraction ()
 The specific absorbed fraction is
simply the absorbed fraction divided
by the mass of the target tissue:


m E
Mass “m” E 
Ein
Photons, energy “Ein” Exiting energy “Eout”
Phantoms
 Generic Equation for Calculating
Absorbed Dose Rate
kA ni Eii
D  i
m
•
 D = absorbed dose rate (perhaps rad/h or Gy/s)
 A = activity (perhaps μCi or MBq)
 ni = # of radiations of energy E emitted per
transformation
 E = average energy per radiation (MeV/dis)
 φi = absorbed fraction
 m = mass of target
 k = proportionality constant (depends on units
required) - (rad-g/ μCi-hr-MeV or Gy-kg/MBq-s-MeV)
 What about k?
 tps   #  MeV 
1.6 10 13

J / MeV  A Bq 1   ni  Ei i 
D   Bq  i  decay  t 
 J / kg 
1 m kg 
 Gy 

In this case, k = (1.6E-13 J/MeV)(1 tps/Bq) / (1 J/kg/Gy)

Gives units of Gy/s

 Generic Equation for Calculating Total
Absorbed Dose

~
kA ni Ei i
D i
m

 D = absorbed dose (rad or Gy)

 Ã = cumulative activity, μCi-hr or MBq-s
 Cumulative Activity, Ã
 Ã: integrated area under activity-time curve
activity

activity
time time
As t   As 0 e  E t Units:
As 0  MBq-s
 
~
A   As t dt  As 0  e dt 
 E t
or
0 0
E Ci-hr
 Evaluating Multiple Contaminated
Objects
 Contaminated object irradiates
 Itself
 Others
 How is dose calculated?
Calculating Total Dose
 Relationships to consider
 Object irradiating itself: φ(11)
 Object being irradiated by others:
 Source (S) and Target (T)
 φ(12)
 φ(13)
 Repeated for multiple targets and
sources
 φ(21), φ(22), φ(31),
φ(32),..etc
Target/Source Configurations

S=T S T

S T
S T
 Calculating Total Dose
~ ~
kA1  ni Eii 1  1 kA2  ni Eii 1  2
D1  i
 i

m1 m2
 Generic equation
 Expressed in many ways (Cember, pg 201-…)
 Parameters grouped
 Physical
 Biological
 Computers used to evaluate
MIRD System
 Medical Internal Radiation Dose
Committee of the Society of Nuclear
Medicine
 Simple equation (lots of lumped
parameters); See Cember, pg 201-…
~
D  AS
k  ni Ei i .
S i
m
 MIRD (continued)
 Can also express as
 As
Di  i  i
m
~
A
D   i  i
m
where

 i  1.6  10 13
 n E
i i

 is the dose rate in an infinitely large homogeneous mass of

tissue containing a uniformly distributed radioisotope at a
concentration of 1 Bq/kg (units of g-rad/uCi-h or kg-Gy/Bq-s)
Example: Sodium injection
 A 1 MBq solution of 24NaCl is
injected into a “standard size”
person.
 Calculate the total body dose and
the initial dose rate from this
injection.
 Initial dose rate Total dose
~
kA ni Eii 1  1 kA  ni Eii 1  1
D  i
D i
m m

What we know or look up:

Reference person mass = 70 kg (Cember, Appendix C)

Radiological half-life Na-24 ~ 15 hours
Biological half-life Na-24 = 11 days (264 hours)
Na-24 has three emissions:
One Beta, Emax = 1.391 (emission probability ~ 100%)
Two Gammas, E1=1.3686 MeV (100%), E2=2.7540 MeV (100%)
 Absorbed Fractions
 Beta, Emax = 1.391 MeV (Eave ~ 0.464 MeV)
 This is easy! φ=1.0
 Gammas (1.369, 2.754 MeV)
 Specific Absorbed Fractions Appendix D, Cember
 Page 698-699 (Source=Total Body; Target=Total Body)
 1.391 MeV
 At 1.0 MeV, φ=4.72E-6; at 1.5 MeV, φ=4.40E-6.
Interpolate to get 4.47E-6 per gram
 2.754 MeV
 At 2.0 MeV, φ=4.16E-6; at 4.0 MeV, φ=3.48E-6.
Interpolate to get 3.90E-6 per gram
 Therefore, the absorbed fractions (φ) are (4.47E-6)
(70000 grams) = 0.31 and (3.90E-6)(70000 grams) =
0.27)
 Example: Calculation
~
kA ni Eii 1  1 kA ni Eii 1  1
D  i
D i
m m

Note that this part is common to both

equations, so let’s calculate that!
Radiation E (MeV) n φ nEφ

Beta 0.464 1 1.00 0.464

Gamma 1 1.391 1 0.31 0.43121
Gamma 2 2.754 1 0.27 0.74358
Sum: 1.63879
Example: Initial Dose Rate


D

1.6 10 13
10 6

Bq 1.63879 
70 kg
Gy
 3.75 10 9
s
nGy
 3.75
s
6 fGy
 3.8  10
s
Example: Total Dose
We need the effective elimination constant E!
Tr  Tb
TE 
Tr  Tb
15 h  264 h

15 h  264 h
 14.2 h

0.693 0.693
E    0.0488 h 1
TE 14.2 h
We also need the cumulative (time integrated) activity:

~ As 0
A
E
106 Bq s
 1
 3600
0.0488 h h
 7.38  1010 Bq  s
D

1.6 10 7.38 10
13 10

Bq  s 1.63879
70 kg
4
 2.76 10 Gy
 276 Gy
 0.28 mGy
Final Comments on Internal
Dosimetry
Where do we get the data needed?

 Biokinetic Data (biological half life, for

example)
 ICRP30…superseded by ICRP68/72
 Physiological Data
 ICRP23.. superseded by ICRP89
 Specific absorbed fractions
 Society for Nuclear Medicine (SNM)
 http://www.snm.org/index.cfm?PageID=2199&
RPID=1310
 MIRD Pamphlet #5 has generic SAFs

 Cember, Appendix D (the PDF I uploaded for you,

as the current edition of Cember is incomplete)
 Parameters Affecting Internal Dose

Physical Biological
 Radionuclide  Metabolic behavior
 Chemical &  Biological half-life
physical form  Tissue sensitivity
 Emitted radiations  Age of individual
 Physical half-life  Individual health
 Intake route  Personal habits
 Duration of intake  Chemical toxicity
 Total intake
The Basic Definitions

Intake Into Body

Uptake By Extracellular
Fluid

In Organ,
Deposition Tissue
Kinetic Models for Organs
 Intake Modes
Inhalation Ingestion

Respiratory
Tract
Mechanical G-I
Removal Tract

Absorption Absorption
Blood
(Cumulative Uptake)

Other
 Organs
Biological
Removal
ICRP-2
Respiratory Model
Respiratory Model, cont’d
 Ingestion

Stomach (ST)
ST
Small B
Body fluids
Intestine (SI)
SI
Upper Large
Intestine (ULI)
ULI

Lower Large
Intestine (LLI)
LLI

Excretion
Summary
 There are some simple
approximations for internal
dosimetry calculations.
 For detailed dosimetric evaluations,
more complicated compartmental
models must be used (not so
simple) – typically require a
computer code