Attenuation factors in terms of air kerma to ambient dose equivalent and effective dose for diagnostic X rays rooms

In the present study, the attenuation of the quantities fluence and air kerma free-in-air by various layers of lead was compared with that of the quantities effective dose, E, and ambient dose equivalent, H*(d). This work aims to calculate the attenuation factors from 50 kV, 125 kV and 150 kV of X ray beams used for medical diagnostic, after transmission through barriers of lead. The X ray qualities used were those recommended by the Birch and Marshall for primary diagnostic X rays. Several lead layers were irradiated with a 50 cm x 50 cm field of primary X ray spectra. The transmitted spectra were calculated to obtain the attenuation factors for beams found in radiodiagnostic services. The calculations were done using the MCNPX Monte Carlo code and voxel model MAX. The values obtained were compared with data derived from the literature. In addition, attenuation factors for X ray qualities after penetration of lead layers were studied to get data which might be of interest in shielding of diagnostic rooms. (author)