Search

In this work we will present a new set of photon fluence-to-effective dose conversion coefficients using the Saudi population-based voxel phantom developed recently by our group. The phantom corresponds to an average Saudi male of 173 cm tall weighing 77 kg. There are over 125 million voxels in the phantom each of which is 1.37×1.37×1.00 mm 3 . Of the 27 organs and tissues of radiological interest specified in the recommendations of ICRP Publication 103, all but the oral mucosa, extrathoracic tissue and the lymph nodes were identified in the current version of the phantom. The bone surface (endosteum) is too thin to be identifiable; it is about 10 μm thick. The dose to the endosteum was therefore approximated by the dose to the bones. Irradiation geometries included anterior–posterior (AP), left (LLAT) and rotational (ROT). The simulations were carried out with the MCNPX code version 2.5.0. The fluence in free air and the energy depositions in each organ were calculated for monoenergetic photon beams from 10 keV to 10 MeV to obtain the conversion coefficients. The radiation and tissue weighting factors were taken from ICRP Publication 60 and 103. The results from this study will also be compared with the conversion coefficients in ICRP Publication 116.

Fluence-to-dose conversion coefficients are important quantities for radiation protection, derived from Monte Carlo simulations of the radiation particles through a stylised phantom or voxel based phantoms. The voxel phantoms have been developed for many ethnic groups for their accurate reflection of the anatomy. In this study, we used the Monte Carlo code MCNPX to calculate the photon fluence-to-effective dose conversion coefficients with a voxel phantom based on the Saudi Arabian male population. Six irradiation geometries, anterior-posterior (AP), posterior-anterior (PA), left lateral (LLAT), right lateral (RLAT), rotational (ROT) and isotropic (ISO) were simulated for monoenergetic photon beams from 10 keV to 20 MeV. We compared the coefficients with the reference values in ICRP Publication 116. The coefficients in the AP and PA geometries match the reference values to 9% and 12% on average as measured by root mean square while those in the LLAT, RLAT ROT and ISO geometries differ, mostly below, from the reference by 23, 22, 15 and 16%, respectively. The torso of the Saudi phantom is wider than the ICRP reference male phantom and likely to cause more attenuation to the lateral beam. The ICRP reference coefficients serve well for the Saudi male population as conservative estimations for the purpose of radiation protection.

Polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) are among the most dangerous pollutants in the Arabian Gulf region. They are produced in the atmosphere as a result of incomplete combustion and pyrolysis of fossil fuels and other organic materials. Their main sources, in that part of the world, are the petrochemical industry and the ever-increasing number of cars in the region. There exists no pollution control system for either the factories or cars, thus causing a continual environmental loading by PAH.