Simulation of beta radiator handling procedures in nuclear medicine by means of a movable hand phantom

Abstract

In nuclear medicine therapies, people working with beta radiators such as (90)Y may be exposed to non-negligible partial body doses. For radiation protection, it is important to know the characteristics of the radiation field and possible dose exposures at relevant positions in the working area. Besides extensive measurements, simulations can provide these data. For this purpose, a movable hand phantom for Monte Carlo simulations was developed. Specific beta radiator handling scenarios can be modelled interactively with forward kinematics or automatically with an inverse kinematics procedure. As a first investigation, the dose distribution on a medical doctor's hand injecting a (90)Y solution was measured and simulated with the phantom. Modelling was done with the interactive method based on five consecutive frames from a video recorded during the injection. Owing to the use of only one camera, not each detail of the radiation scenario is visible in the video. In spite of systematic uncertainties, the measured and simulated dose values are in good agreement.

Radiation Exposure of Medical Staff: Application of Hand Phantoms in Experiments and Simulations

“…Handling a syringe as employed in the RSO case study is presented here. In this laboratory study the fictive handling without use of activity was chosen to illustrate best the procedure (for details see [7,9]). In contrast to the measurements, simulations allow determining the dose distribution at all positions (however for the precise determination of H P (0.07) via energy deposition in so called tally cells simulation with MCNPX is also limited to 100 positions per simulation).…”

“…A flexible hand phantom model was developed for simulations (see Fig. 2) [7]. The hand model, consisting of simple geometrical structures, can be moved via an interactive controlling interface.…”

Using Monte Carlo methods for Hp(0.07) values assessment during the handling of 18F-FDG

“…As stated by Becker et al, “Different scenarios can be simulated and situations with highest exposures can be revealed” (Becker et al 2011 ). Simulations using voxel phantoms or flexible mathematical phantoms are useful tools for studying hand exposure (Becker et al 2008a , b , 2011 , 2014 ; Blunck et al 2009 , 2011 ; Becker and Blunck 2011 ; Figueira et al 2013 ).…”