Microdosimetry is a recommended method for characterizing radiation quality in situations when the biological effectiveness under test is not well known. In such situations, the radiation beams are described by their lineal energy probability distributions. Results from radiobiological investigations in the beams are then used to establish response functions that relate the lineal energy to the relative biological effectiveness (RBE). In this paper we present the influence of the size of the simulated volume on the relation to the clinical RBE values (or weighting factors). A single event probability distribution of the lineal energy is approximated by its dose average lineal energy (y[overline](D)) which can be measured or calculated for volumes from a few micrometres down to a few nanometres. The clinical RBE values were approximated as the ratio of the α-values derived from the LQ-relation. Model calculations are presented and discussed for the SOBP of a (12)C ion (290 MeV u(-1)) and the reference (60)Co γ therapy beam. Results were compared with those for a conventional x-ray therapy beam, a 290 MeV proton beam and a neutron therapy beam. It is concluded that for a simulated volume of about 10 nm, the α-ratio increases approximately linearly with the y[overline](D)-ratio for all the investigated beams. The correlation between y and α provides the evidence to characterize a radiation therapy beam by the lineal energy when, for instance, weighting factors are to be estimated.

The present investigation provides an insight into differences in energy depositions in subcellular-size volumes when irradiated by proton and carbon ion beams. The results are useful for characterizing ion beams of practical importance for biophysical modeling of radiation-induced DNA damage response and repair in the depth profiles of protons and carbon ions used in radiotherapy.

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Secondary organ absorbed doses were calculated by Monte Carlo simulations with the SHIELD-HIT07 code coupled with the mathematical anthropomorphic phantoms CHILD-HIT and ADAM-HIT. The simulated irradiations were performed with primary (1)H, (4)He, (7)Li, (12)C and (16)O ion beams in the energy range 100-400 MeV/u which were directly impinging on the phantoms, i.e. approximating scanned beams, and with a simplified beamline for (12)C irradiation. The evaluated absorbed doses to the out-of-field organs were in the range 10(-6) to 10(-1) mGy per target Gy and with standard deviations 0.5-20%. While the contribution to the organ absorbed doses from secondary neutrons dominated in the ion beams of low atomic number Z, the produced charged fragments and their subsequent charged secondaries of higher generations became increasingly important for the secondary dose delivery as Z of the primary ions increased. As compared to the simulated scanned (12)C ion beam, the implementation of a simplified beamline for prostate irradiation with (12)C ions resulted in an increase of 2-50 times in the organ absorbed doses depending on the distance from the target volume. Comparison of secondary organ absorbed doses delivered by (1)H and (12)C beams showed smaller differences when the RBE for local tumor control of the ions was considered and normalization to the RBE-weighted dose to the target was performed.