APPLICABILITY OF PURE PROPANE GAS FOR MICRODOSIMETRY AT BRACHYTHERAPY ENERGIES: A FLUKA STUDY

2020 ◽  
Vol 189 (3) ◽  
pp. 286-293
Author(s):  
Arghya Chattaraj ◽  
T Palani Selvam
Keyword(s):  
Monte Carlo ◽  
Energy Range ◽  
Proportional Counter ◽  
Scaling Factor ◽  
Sensitive Region ◽  
Tissue Equivalent ◽  
Tissue Equivalent Proportional Counter

Abstract Applicability of pure propane gas for microdosimetric measurements at photon energies relevant in brachytherapy is studied using the Monte Carlo-based FLUKA code. Monoenergetic photons in the energy range of 20–1250 keV and brachytherapy sources such as 103Pd, 125I, 169Yb, 192Ir, 137Cs and 60Co are considered in the study. Using the calculated values of energy deposited in the sensitive region of LET-1/2 tissue-equivalent proportional counter filled with pure propane gas and tissue-equivalent propane gas, values of density scaling factor for the site sizes of 1 and 8 μm are obtained. The study shows that density of propane gas should be lowered by a factor of about 0.93 for 169Yb, 192Ir, 137Cs and 60Co sources for the site sizes of 1–8 μm. For 125I source, the density of propane gas requires a scaling of 0.93 for 1 μm site size, whereas for site sizes 2–8 μm, density need not be altered. 103Pd source does not require density scaling for site sizes 1–8 μm.

INVESTIGATION OF APPLICABILITY OF PURE PROPANE GAS FOR MICRODOSIMETRY AT NEUTRON FIELDS: A MONTE CARLO STUDY

2018 ◽  
Vol 185 (1) ◽  
pp. 74-86 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arghya Chattaraj ◽  
T Palani Selvam ◽  
D Datta
Keyword(s):  
Monte Carlo ◽  
Energy Range ◽  
Neutron Energy ◽  
Proportional Counter ◽  
Monte Carlo Study ◽  
Monte Carlo Code ◽  
Scaling Factors ◽  
Neutron Sources ◽  
Tissue Equivalent ◽  
Tissue Equivalent Proportional Counter

Abstract Applicability of pure propane gas for microdosimetric measurements in neutron fields was investigated using the FLUKA Monte Carlo code. Monoenergetic neutrons in the energy range 1 keV−20 MeV and the ISO-neutron sources such as 241Am-Be, 241Am-B, 252Cf and 252Cf + D2O were considered in the present study. The tissue-equivalent proportional counter (TEPC) simulated in the study was LET-1/2 (by Far West Technology) with site sizes 1, 2 and 8 μm. The study demonstrates that for a given site size, the TEPC filled with tissue-equivalent propane and pure propane gases produce similar microdosimetric distributions when the density of pure propane gas is lowered appropriately. For the ISO-neutron sources, the density of propane gas requires scaling by a factor 0.85. For the monoenergetic neutrons, depending upon the neutron energy, the values of scaling factors are in the range of 0.58–0.93.

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