title: Evaluation of dose conversion coefficients for external exposure using Taiwanese reference man and woman.
abstract: Reference man has been widely used for external and internal dose evaluation of radiation protection. The parameters of the mathematical model of organs suggested by the International Commission of Radiological Protection (ICRP) are adopted from the average data of Caucasians. However, the organ masses of Asians are significantly different from the data of Caucasians, leading to potentially dosimetric errors. In this study, a total of 40 volunteers whose heights and weights corresponded to the statistical average of Taiwanese adults were recruited. Magnetic resonance imaging was performed, and T2-weighted images were acquired. The Taiwanese reference man and woman were constructed according to the measured organ masses. The dose conversion coefficients (DCFs) for anterior-posterior (AP), posterior-anterior (PA), right lateral (RLAT) and left lateral (LLAT) irradiation geometries were simulated. For the Taiwanese reference man, the average differences of the DCFs compared with the results of ICRP-74 were 7.6, 5.1 and 11.1 % for 0.1, 1 and 10 MeV photons irradiated in the AP direction. The maximum difference reached 51.7 % for the testes irradiated by 10 MeV photons. The size of the trunk, the volume and the geometric position of organs can cause a significant impact on the DCFs for external exposure of radiation. The constructed Taiwanese reference man and woman can be used in radiation protection to increase the accuracy of dose evaluation for the Taiwanese population.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Nuclear Engineering and Science, National Tsing Hua University, Hsinchu, Taiwan, ROC Health Physics Division, Institute of Nuclear Energy Research, Taoyuan, Taiwan, ROC.
authors.forename: S J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Imaging, Chi Mei Medical Center, Liouying, Tainan, Taiwan, ROC Department of Medical Imaging and Radiological Science, Central Taiwan University of Science and Technology, Taichung, Taiwan, ROC.
authors.forename: S Y
authors.initials: SY
authors.lastname: Hung
authors.affiliation: Institute of Nuclear Engineering and Science, National Tsing Hua University, Hsinchu, Taiwan, ROC.
authors.forename: Y L
authors.initials: YL
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Institute of Nuclear Engineering and Science, National Tsing Hua University, Hsinchu, Taiwan, ROC.
authors.forename: S H
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Imaging and Radiological Sciences, National Yang-Ming University, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC iamjaywu@gmail.com.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wu
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D044466:Asian People; D001822:Body Burden; D003198:Computer Simulation; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D038622:Internationality; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008954:Models, Biological; D009928:Organ Specificity; D000069079:Radiation Exposure / Q000032:analysis*; D011834:Radiation Monitoring / Q000379:methods*; D012016:Reference Values; D012062:Relative Biological Effectiveness; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D012727:Sex Characteristics; D014915:Whole-Body Counting / Q000379:methods*; D055815:Young Adult