Specific absorbed fractions of energy at various ages from internal photon sources: 6, Newborn

Abstract

Specific absorbed fraction (PHI's) in various organs of the body (target organs) from sources of monoenergetic photons in various other organs (source organs) are tabulated. In this volume PHI-values are tabulated for a newborn or 3.4-kg person. These PHI-values can be used in calculating the photon component of the dose-equivalent rate in a given target from a given radionuclide that is present in a given source organ. The International Commission on Radiological Protection recognizes that the endosteal, or bone surface, cells are the tissue at risk for bone cancer. We have applied the dosimetry methods that Spiers and co-workers developed for beta-emitting radionuclides deposited in bone to follow the transport of secondary electrons that were freed by photon interactions through the microscopic structure of the skeleton. With these methods we can estimate PHI in the endosteal cells and can better estimate PHI in the active marrow; the latter is overestimated with other methods at photon energies below 200 keV. 12 refs., 2 tabs.