Studies on mass attenuation coefficients for some body tissues with different medical sources and their validation using Monte Carlo codes

• Published in: Nuclear science and techniques Vol. 31; no. 12; pp. 50 - 64
• Main Authors: Yazdani Darki, Sepideh, Keshavarz, Sajad
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Singapore Springer Singapore 01.12.2020; Department of Physics, University of Yazd, Yazd, Iran%Department of Medical Radiation Engineering, University of Science and Research Branch Tehran, Tehran, Iran
• Subjects: Energy; Hadrons; Heavy Ions; Nuclear Energy; Nuclear Physics; XCOM; Mass attenuation coefficient; MCNP; Human organs; Geant4
• ISSN: 1001-8042; 2210-3147
• DOI: 10.1007/s41365-020-00827-1

The mass attenuation coefficients of the breasts, lungs, kidneys, pancreas, liver, eye lenses, thyroid, brain, ovary, heart, large intestines, blood, skin, spleen, muscle, and cortical bone were measured at different sources (i.e., 0.021, 0.029, 0.03, 0.14, 0.218, 0.38, 0.412, 0.663, 0.83, and 1.25 MeV) using various methods including the Monte Carlo N-particle transport code (MCNP), the geometry and tracking code (GEANT4), and theoretical approach described in this study. Mass attenuation coefficients were also compared with the values from the national institute of standards and technology (NIST-XCOM). The values obtained were similar to those obtained using NIST-XCOM. Our results show that the theoretical method is quite convenient in comparison with GEANT4 and MCNP in the calculation of the mass attenuation coefficients of the human body samples applied when compared with the NIST values and demonstrated an acceptable difference.