Effective doses obtained with tomographic phantoms compared with the obtained using mathematical phantoms for photons external exposures

The replacement of the MIRD-type phantoms by voxel phantoms proposed by the ICRP raises the question about the changes to be expected for organ equivalent doses, especially for the effective dose. In order to investigate the dosimetric consequences of this replacement, organ equivalent dose and effective dose calculations have been made with the recently introduced MAX (Male Adult voXel) and FAXht (Female Adult voXel) head+trunk phantoms, and the results have been compared with corresponding data for the mathematical ADAM and EVA phantoms. As organ equivalent doses not depend only on the geometrical anatomy of the human body, but also on the radiation transport method applied and on the elemental composition of relevant body tissues, an effort was made to investigate the dosimetric impact of these three parameters separately. (author)