Basic study on the estimation of medical exposure dose using Monte Carlo simulation

In order to make dose estimation in Fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography (FDG-PET) which is a very useful technique for whole-body cancer screening, we developed a computation system by employing a Monte Calro photon transport program UCBEAM based on the EGS4 code and the voxel phantom OTOKO. The code simulates the dose in each organ on the basis of source (FDG) distribution using the Monte Carlo simulation of annihilation photons transport. By using the experimental data for the distribution of cumulative activity by H M Deloar et al which was obtained using thermoluminescence dosimeter (TLD) during PET, the present approach provides dose distribution generally consistent with measurement. It is promising for estimation of exposure rate in each organ during medical screening. (author)