PCDOSE: an interactive software system to calculate internal radiation dose on a personal computer

Area of Science:

• Medical Physics
• Radiation Dosimetry
• Computational Toxicology

Background:

• Accurate assessment of internal radiation dose is crucial for radiation protection.
• Existing methods for calculating committed dose equivalents may not adequately account for individual physique variations.
• Radionuclide intake via inhalation, ingestion, or injection requires robust dosimetry models.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop an interactive software system for calculating committed dose equivalents.
• To accommodate variations in individual physiques in dose calculations.
• To provide a user-friendly tool based on established International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) methods.

Main Methods:

• Development of a menu-directed, interactive software system.
• Implementation of calculations based on ICRP Publication 26 and ICRP Publication 30 methodologies.
• Programming in PASCAL for compatibility with MS-DOS personal computers.

Main Results:

• A functional software system capable of calculating committed dose equivalents for various exposure scenarios (inhalation, ingestion, injection).
• The system accounts for different individual physiques, enhancing personalized dosimetry.
• The software is designed for implementation on personal computers with specific system requirements (MS-DOS, 20 Mb hard disk).

Conclusions:

• The developed software provides an accessible and interactive tool for estimating internal radiation doses.
• It supports radiation protection professionals by offering physique-specific dose calculations.
• The system represents a practical application of ICRP 26/30 dosimetry principles in a computational format.