Methods for the inclusion of shallow marrow and adipose tissue in pathlength-based skeletal dosimetry

Distributions of linear pathlength measurements have been utilized in skeletal dosimetry of internally emitted short-range particles for over 30 years. This work reviews the methods for coupling these distributions to range-energy data. A revised methodology is presented for handling the insertion of the additional dosimetric target region (shallow marrow) and medium (adipose tissue) into the dosimetry algorithm. The methodology is shown to reduce the volume fraction of shallow marrow in the trabecular skeleton over existing methodologies. Finally, theoretical low and high-energy checkpoints are derived for use in checking the absorbed fraction and specific absorbed fraction results for a variety of source and target combinations.