title: Designing attenuators for total-body irradiation using virtual simulation.
abstract: In total-body photon irradiation, the lungs are the most commonly shielded organ. Lung compensators are often designed by using high-energy portal films. Other organs, such as the kidneys and liver, are poorly visualized in portal films due to their unit-density composition. A computed tomography-based technique to design kidney and liver attenuators involves outlining these organs in a virtual simulation. The position and the shape of the attenuator are then determined from a digitally-reconstructed radiograph. Appropriate attenuator thickness is determined from measured transmission curves. This article provides a summary of this technique for total-body photon irradiation in a 4-MV photon beam.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Physics, McGill University Health Centre, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Corns
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Evans
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Olivares
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Dyke
authors.forename: E B
authors.initials: EB
authors.lastname: Podgorsak
authors.forename: C R
authors.initials: CR
authors.lastname: Freeman
mesh_terms: D003198:Computer Simulation; D004867:Equipment Design; D011835:Radiation Protection; D014916:Whole-Body Irradiation / Q000295:instrumentation*