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Development of paediatric mesh-type reference computational phantom series of International Commission on
Chansoo Choi1, Bangho Shin1, Yeon Soo Yeom2
1Department of Nuclear Engineering, Hanyang University, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
Insights
The International Commission on Radiological Protection developed new paediatric mesh-type reference computational phantoms (MRCPs) with enhanced anatomical detail. These advanced phantoms improve dose calculations, especially for weakly penetrating radiations in paediatric radiation protection.
Area of Science:
- Medical Physics
- Radiological Protection
- Computational Modeling
Background:
- ICRP Publication 143 provided voxel-based paediatric phantoms with limitations in anatomical detail and resolution.
- Existing voxel phantoms present challenges for accurate dose assessment in paediatric radiation dosimetry.
- There is a need for improved computational phantoms representing paediatric anatomy with higher fidelity.
Purpose of the Study:
- To introduce the newly developed paediatric mesh-type reference computational phantoms (MRCPs).
- To address the anatomical limitations of previous voxel-based paediatric phantoms.
- To evaluate the computational performance and impact on dose calculations of the new MRCPs.
Main Methods:
- Conversion of voxel-type reference phantoms to a high-quality mesh format.
- Enhancement of anatomical details for small and complex organs and tissues.
- Inclusion of intra-organ blood content and modelling of micron-thick skin, lens, and organ regions.
- Development of ten phantoms representing various paediatric age groups and sexes.
Main Results:
- Paediatric MRCPs offer significantly improved anatomical representation compared to voxel phantoms.
- Computational performance in Geant4, PHITS, and MCNP6 was assessed for memory usage and speed.
- Effective dose coefficients (DCEs) calculated using MRCPs show significant differences for weakly penetrating radiations compared to ICRP-143 phantoms.
- DCEs for external idealised exposures are similar for penetrating radiations but differ substantially for low-energy electrons.
Conclusions:
- The paediatric MRCPs represent a significant advancement in computational dosimetry for paediatric populations.
- These mesh-type phantoms provide more accurate dose assessments, particularly for non-penetrating radiations.
- The MRCPs are valuable tools for improving radiation protection standards and research in paediatric settings.
Abstract:
Very recently, Task Group 103 of the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) completed the development of the paediatric mesh-type reference computational phantoms (MRCPs) comprising ten phantoms (newborn, one year-old, five year-old, ten year-old, and fifteen year-old males and females). The paediatric MRCPs address the limitations of ICRPPublication 143's paediatric reference computational phantoms, which are in voxel format, stemming from the nature of the voxel geometry and the limited voxel resolutions. The paediatric MRCPs were constructed by converting the voxel-type reference phantoms to a high-quality mesh format with substantial enhancements in the detailed anatomy of the small and complex organs and tissues (e.g. bones, lymphatic nodes, and extra-thoracic region). Besides, the paediatric MRCPs were developed in consideration of the intra-organ blood contents and by modelling the micron-thick target and source regions of the skin, lens, urinary bladder, alimentary tract organs, and respiratory tract organs prescribed by the ICRP. For external idealised exposures, the paediatric MRCPs provide very similar effective dose coefficients (DCEs) to those from the ICRP-143 phantoms but significantly different values for weakly penetrating radiations (e.g. the difference of ∼20 000 times for 10 keV electron beams). This paper introduces the developed paediatric MRCPs with a brief explanation of the construction process. Then, it discusses their computational performance in Geant4, PHITS, and MCNP6 in terms of memory usage and computation speed and their impact on dose calculations by comparing their calculated values of DCEs for external exposures with those of the voxel-type reference phantoms.
