title: Track structure analysis illustrating the prominent role of low-energy electrons in radiobiological effects of low-LET radiations.
abstract: Monte Carlo track structure methods have been used to illustrate the importance of low-energy electrons produced by low-LET radiations. It is shown that these low-energy secondary electrons contribute substantially to the dose in all low-LET irradiations and are particularly efficient at producing highly localized clusters of atomic damage which may be responsible for a major part of the biological effectiveness of low-LET radiations. The data generated by Monte Carlo track structure techniques and by earlier semi-analytical methods based on the LET concept have been compared in terms of cumulative and differential fractions of total dose absorbed as a function of electron energy. The data show that low-energy secondary electrons account for up to nearly 50% of the total dose imparted to a medium when irradiated with electrons or photons.
authors.affiliation: Division of Cell and Molecular Biology, Medical Research Council, Chilton, Didcot, UK.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Nikjoo
authors.forename: D T
authors.initials: DT
authors.lastname: Goodhead
mesh_terms: D004583:Electrons; D004735:Energy Transfer; D006801:Humans; D009010:Monte Carlo Method; D011829:Radiation Dosage; D012062:Relative Biological Effectiveness