| The distribution of absorbed doses in the body can be computationally determined using mathematical or tomographic representations of human anatomy. A whole-body model was developed from the color images of the National Library of Medicine's Visible Human ProjectRTM for simulating the transport of radiation in the human body. The model, called Visible Photographic Man (VIP-Man), has sixty-one organs and tissues represented in the Monte Carlo code MCNPX at 4-mm voxel resolution. Organ dose calculations from external neutron sources were carried out using VIP-man and MCNPX to determine a new set of dose conversion coefficients to be used in radiation protection. Monoenergetic neutron beams between 10-9 MeV and 10 GeV were studied under six different irradiation geometries: anterior-posterior, posterior-anterior, right lateral, left lateral, rotational and isotropic. The results for absorbed doses in twenty-four organs and the effective doses based on twelve critical organs are presented in tabular form. A comprehensive comparison of the results with those from the mathematical models show discrepancies that can be attributed to the variations in body modeling (size, location and shape of the individual organs) and the use of different nuclear datasets or models to derive the reaction cross sections, as well as the use of different transport packages for simulation radiation effects. The organ dose results based on the realistic VIP-Man body model allow the existing radiation protection dosimetry on neutrons to be re-evaluated and improved. |
