The neutron dose conversion coefficients calculation in human tooth enamel in an anthropomorphic phantom

Health Phys. 2010 Feb;98(2):369-77. doi: 10.1097/HP.0b013e3181a86610.

Abstract

In the present study, MCNP4B simulation code is used to simulate neutron and photon transport. It gives the conversion coefficients that relate neutron fluence to the dose in tooth enamel (molars and pre-molars only) for 20 energy groups of monoenergetic neutrons with energies from 10-9 to 20 MeV for five different irradiation geometries. The data presented are intended to provide the basis for connection between EPR dose values and standard protection quantities defined in ICRP Publication 74. The results of the calculations for critical organs were found to be consistent with ICRP data, with discrepancies generally less than 10% for the fast neutrons. The absorbed dose in enamel was found to depend strongly on the incident neutron energy for neutrons over 10 keV. The dependence of the data on the irradiation geometry is also shown. Lower bound estimates of enamel radiation sensitivity to neutrons were made using obtained coefficients for the secondary photons. Depending on neutron energy, tooth enamel was shown to register 10-120% of the total neutron dose in the human body in the case of pure neutron exposure and AP irradiation geometry.

Publication types

  • Evaluation Study

MeSH terms

  • Algorithms*
  • Artifacts*
  • Biological Assay / methods*
  • Computer Simulation
  • Dental Enamel / chemistry*
  • Dental Enamel / radiation effects*
  • Dose-Response Relationship, Radiation
  • Electron Spin Resonance Spectroscopy / methods*
  • Models, Biological*
  • Neutrons
  • Phantoms, Imaging
  • Radiation Dosage
  • Radiometry / methods*
  • Reproducibility of Results
  • Sensitivity and Specificity