IDAC-Dose 2.1, an internal dosimetry program for diagnostic nuclear medicine based on the ICRP adult reference voxel phantoms

• Published in: EJNMMI research 2017-11, Vol.7 (1), p.88-10, Article 88
• Main Authors: Andersson, Martin, Johansson, Lennart, Eckerman, Keith, Mattsson, Sören
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adults; Alpha decay; Background radiation; Cardiac Imaging; Clinical Medicine; Computation; DCAL; Diagnostic nuclear dicine; Diagnostic nuclear medicine; Diagnostic systems; Dosimeters; Dosimetry; Downloading; Drug dosages; Effective dose; Emitters; Estimating techniques; Human behavior; ICRP; IDAC; Imaging; Internal dosimetry; Klinisk medicin; Medical and Health Sciences; Medicin och hälsovetenskap; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Nuclear Medicine; Oncology; Organs; Original Research; Orthopedics; Radiation dosage; Radiochemistry; Radiologi och bildbehandling; Radiology; RADIOLOGY AND NUCLEAR MEDICINE; Radiology, Nuclear Medicine & Medical Imaging; Radiology, Nuclear Medicine and Medical Imaging; Radiopharmaceuticals
• ISSN: 2191-219X; 2191-219X
• DOI: 10.1186/s13550-017-0339-3

Background To date, the estimated radiation-absorbed dose to organs and tissues in patients undergoing diagnostic examinations in nuclear medicine is derived via calculations based on models of the human body and the biokinetic behaviour of the radiopharmaceutical. An internal dosimetry computer program, IDAC-Dose2.1, was developed based on the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP)-specific absorbed fractions and computational framework of internal dose assessment given for reference adults in ICRP Publication 133. The program uses the radionuclide decay database of ICRP Publication 107 and considers 83 different source regions irradiating 47 target tissues, defining the effective dose as presented in ICRP Publications 60 and 103. The computer program was validated against another ICRP dosimetry program, Dose and Risk Calculation (DCAL), that employs the same computational framework in evaluation of occupational and environmental intakes of radionuclides. IDAC-Dose2.1 has a sub-module for absorbed dose calculations in spherical structures of different volumes and composition; this sub-module is intended for absorbed dose estimates in radiopharmaceutical therapy. For nine specific alpha emitters, the absorbed dose contribution from their decay products is also included in the committed absorbed dose calculations. Results The absorbed doses and effective dose of 131 I-iodide determined by IDAC-Dose2.1 were validated against the dosimetry program DCAL, showing identical results. IDAC-Dose2.1 was used to calculate absorbed doses for intravenously administered 18 F-FDG and orally administered 99m Tc-pertechnetate and 131 I-iodide, three frequently used radiopharmaceuticals. Using the tissue weighting factors from ICRP Publication 103, the effective dose per administered activity was estimated to be 0.016 mSv/MBq for 18 F-FDG, 0.014 mSv/MBq for 99m Tc-pertechnetate, and 16 mSv/MBq for 131 I-iodide. Conclusions The internal dosimetry program IDAC-Dose2.1 was developed and applied to three radiopharmaceuticals for validation against DCAL and to generate improved absorbed dose estimations for diagnostic nuclear medicine using specific absorbed fraction values of the ICRP computational voxel phantoms. The sub-module for absorbed dose calculations in spherical structures 1 mm to 9 cm in diameter and different tissue composition was included to broaden the clinical usefulness of the program. The IDAC-Dose2.1 program is free software for research a