A Cs g-ray beam irradiator has been calibrated in terms of air kerma using large size chambers. The available air-kerma rates range between 1.8mGy/h (0.2mR/h) and 5.3mGy/h (0.6R/h). Large-volume chambers were used to characterize the source in terms of the radiation quantity air kerma (and exposure). Two types of chambers with significantly different characteristics and energy responses were us...

BACKGROUND X-ray use in the catheterization laboratory is guided by the principle of as low as reasonably achievable. In accordance with this principle, we reduced the default fluoroscopic frame rate from 10 to 7.5 frames/s and increased the emphasis on the use of low-dose acquisition starting January 1, 2013. We aimed to study the impact of these measures on the total air kerma during diagnost...

Spongiosa in the adult human skeleton consists of three tissues-active marrow (AM), inactive marrow (IM) and trabecularized mineral bone (TB). AM is considered to be the target tissue for assessment of both long-term leukemia risk and acute marrow toxicity following radiation exposure. The total shallow marrow (TM(50)), defined as all tissues lying within the first 50 µm of the bone surfaces, i...

OBJECTIVES The aim of this study was to analyze the relationship between beam angulation and air kerma in a modern cardiac catheterization laboratory. BACKGROUND Recent reports have identified the merits of reducing radiation scatter, an important determinant of radiation dose in the catheterization laboratory. Radiation scatter is poorly characterized in the context of catheterization labora...

As clinical trials of Neutron Capture Therapy (NCT) are initiated in the U.S. and other countries, new treatment planning codes are being developed to calculate detailed dose distributions in patient-specific models. The thorough evaluation and comparison of treatment planning codes is a critical step toward the eventual standardization of dosimetry, which, in turn, is an essential element for ...

The Brazilian legislation has only established diagnostic reference levels (DRLs) in terms of Multiple Scan Average Dose (MSAD) as a quality control parameter for computed tomography (CT) scanners. Compliance with DRLs can be verified by measuring the Computed Tomography Kerma Index (Ca,100) with a pencil ionization chamber or by obtaining the kerma distribution in CT scans with radiochromic fi...

Y. Lemoigne and A. Caner (eds.), Radiation Protection in Medical Physics, NATO Science for Peace and Security Series B: Physics and Biophysics 1, DOI 10.1007/978-94-007-0247-9_2, © Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2011 Abstract A number of radiation units exist for representing radiation dose to patients, staff, public and quantities for radiation equipment performance in radiological pract...

The purpose of this study was to introduce and describe the development of RadShield, a Java-based graphical user interface (GUI), which provides a base design that uniquely performs thorough, spatially distributed calculations at many points and reports the maximum air-kerma rate and barrier thickness for each barrier pursuant to NCRP Report 147 methodology. Semiautomated shielding design calc...

This paper details a practical method for deriving the reference air kerma rate calibration coefficient for Farmer NE2571 chambers using the U.K. Institute of Physics and Engineering in Medicine (IPEM) code of practice for the determination of the reference air kerma rate for HDR (192)Ir brachytherapy sources based on the National Physical Laboratory (NPL) air kerma standard. The reference air ...