SESAME: a software tool for the numerical dosimetric reconstruction of radiological accidents involving external sources and its application to the accident in Chile in December 2005.

Estimating the dose distribution in a victim's body is a relevant indicator in assessing biological damage from exposure in the event of a radiological accident caused by an external source. This dose distribution can be assessed by physical dosimetric reconstruction methods. Physical dosimetric reconstruction can be achieved using experimental or numerical techniques. This article presents the laboratory-developed SESAME--Simulation of External Source Accident with MEdical images--tool specific to dosimetric reconstruction of radiological accidents through numerical simulations which combine voxel geometry and the radiation-material interaction MCNP(X) Monte Carlo computer code. The experimental validation of the tool using a photon field and its application to a radiological accident in Chile in December 2005 are also described.

Current developments at IRSN on computational tools dedicated to assessing doses for both internal and external exposure.

The paper presents the OEDIPE (French acronym that stands for tool for personalised internal dose assessment) and SESAME (for simulation of external source accident with medical images) computational tools, dedicated to internal and external dose assessment, respectively, and currently being developed at the Institute for Radiological Protection and Nuclear Safety. The originality of OEDIPE and SESAME, by using voxel phantoms in association with Monte Carlo codes, lies in their ability to construct personalised voxel phantoms from medical images and automatically generate the Monte Carlo input file and visualise the expected results. OEDIPE simulates in vivo measurements to improve their calibration, and calculates the dose distribution taking both internal contamination and internal radiotherapy cases into account. SESAME enables radiological overexposure doses to be reconstructed, as also victim, source and accident environment modelling. The paper presents the principles on which these tools function and an overview of specificities and results linked to their fields of application.

Dosimetric comparison of Monte Carlo codes (EGS4, MCNP, MCNPX) considering external and internal exposures of the Zubal phantom to electron and photon sources.

This paper aims at comparing dosimetric assessments performed with three Monte Carlo codes: EGS4, MCNP4c2 and MCNPX2.5e, using a realistic voxel phantom, namely the Zubal phantom, in two configurations of exposure. The first one deals with an external irradiation corresponding to the example of a radiological accident. The results are obtained using the EGS4 and the MCNP4c2 codes and expressed in terms of the mean absorbed dose (in Gy per source particle) for brain, lungs, liver and spleen. The second one deals with an internal exposure corresponding to the treatment of a medullary thyroid cancer by 131I-labelled radiopharmaceutical. The results are obtained by EGS4 and MCNPX2.5e and compared in terms of S-values (expressed in mGy per kBq and per hour) for liver, kidney, whole body and thyroid. The results of these two studies are presented and differences between the codes are analysed and discussed.

A computational tool based on voxel geometry for dose reconstruction of a radiological accident due to external exposure.

In the case of overexposure to ionising radiation, estimation of the absorbed dose in the organism is an important indicator for evaluating the biological consequences of this exposure. The physical dosimetry approach is based either on real reconstruction of the accident, using physical phantoms, or on calculation techniques. Tools using Monte Carlo simulations associated with geometric models are very powerful since they offer the possibility to simulate faithfully the victim and the environment for dose calculations in various accidental situations. Their work presents a new computational tool, called SESAME, dedicated to dose reconstruction of radiological accidents based on anthropomorphic voxel phantoms built from real medical images of the victim in association with the MCNP Monte Carlo code. The utility was, as a first step, validated for neutrons by experimental means using a physical tissue-equivalent phantom.

Application of new imaging and calculation techniques to activity and dose assessment in the case of a 106Ru contaminated wound.

The aim of this paper is to describe the dosimetric evaluation of a point contamination that occurred in a laboratory during the examination of an irradiated sample. The incident led to point contamination of the operator's finger due to the presence of mainly 106Ru, with its progeny, 106Rh. The paper reports on the activity and dose assessment, performed using several methods. The measured activity was obtained using a conventional device based on a germanium detector and confirmed using software developed at IRSN, based on reconstruction of voxel phantom associated with the Monte Carlo N-Particle code (MCNP) for in vivo measurement. Two dose assessment calculations were performed using both analytical and Monte Carlo methods, applying the same approach as for activity assessment based on the personal computational phantom of the finger. The results are compared, followed by a discussion on the suitability of the tools described in this study.

[Comparison of biological functional assessment in intensity-modulated radiotherapy: two-dimensional study]. / Comparaison de fonctions d'évaluation biologiques en radiothérapie d'intensité modulée: étude bidimensionnelle.

Modulated intensity dose distributions are obtained by inverse planning. It requires an inversion algorithm and an objective function that can be physical or biological. The biological objective functions aim at quantifying the probability of the favourable end of the treatment. The inversion algorithm used is analytical and is based on the mathematical analysis of the singular values decomposition. It proposes as many solutions as there are elementary beams. From the Tumour Control Probability, Normal Tissue Complication Probabilities and complication free tumour control, three biological assessment functions of the proposed solutions are compared with the least square difference between the prescribed and obtained dose distributions. We used a simplified irradiation configuration: Brahme's dose prescription (2D modelling of a prostate) and 9 beams (1D). The choice by mean of biological criterion of the optimal solution makes it possible to increase the average dose in the tumour, so as its homogeneity compared to physical optimisation. Conversely, the organs at risk are then less protected. The laying down of relevant constraints makes it possible to obtain satisfactory dose distributions. Concerning the validity of the models and data used, some limitations appear. At present time, it seems to exclude the use in clinical routine of an only biological optimisation. The future availability of new biological data will allow the development and in particular the clinical use of biological optimisation.