'Voxelization' of Alderson-Rando phantom for use in numerical dose measuring

Area of Science:

• Medical Physics
• Computational Biology
• Radiological Sciences

Background:

• Anthropomorphic phantoms are crucial for estimating radiation dose absorption in human organs and tissues.
• Modern phantoms utilize voxel-based models derived from CT and MRI scans for enhanced realism.
• Image artifacts in CT/MRI necessitate filtering for accurate organ segmentation and contour detection.

Purpose of the Study:

• To present a methodology for creating a voxel-based anthropomorphic phantom from physical phantom (Alderson-Rando) tomographic images.
• To develop a computational model for simulating radiation exposure using these voxelized phantoms.
• To integrate internal dose measurement capabilities through simulated radioactive sources.

Main Methods:

• Acquisition of tomographic images from the Alderson-Rando physical phantom.
• Application of filtering processes to remove artifacts and enhance image quality.
• Voxelization of the filtered images to create a digital, volumetric phantom.
• Integration of the voxelized phantom with the Monte Carlo EGS4 code.
• Development of algorithms for simulating internal radioactive sources for dose assessment.

Main Results:

• Successful creation of a voxel-based computational phantom from a physical phantom.
• Development of a computational model capable of simulating radiation exposure scenarios.
• Implementation of internal dose measurement simulation using radioactive sources.
• Demonstrated utility of filtered tomographic data for realistic phantom construction.

Conclusions:

• The methodology enables the creation of realistic voxelized anthropomorphic phantoms for radiation dosimetry.
• The developed computational model enhances the accuracy of internal and external radiation dose estimations.
• This approach provides a valuable tool for research in radiation protection and medical physics.