Monte carlo simulation of pregnant female phantoms and dose assessment of fetus and pregnant female from diagnostics x-ray at abdomen examination

Mathematical phantoms of representing the adult female at 0,3,6 and 9 months of gestation were constructed, and organ doses and effective doses were calculated in standard irradiation environment and abdomen X-ray examination. Phantoms were based on the data set of ORNL and MCNP4B, a general-purposed Monte Carlo code was used for dose calculation. Firstly, organ doses and effective doses of pregnant female and fetus for 0.4 and 0.8MeV broad parallel beam incident from AP and PA direction were calculated. Then, the same calculations were performed in abdomen AP X-ray examination. As gestation period went by, effective doses of pregnant woman decreased because major organs were shielded by expanded uterus. Fetus of 9 month is lower than that of 6 month because of shielding effect of placement for AP irradiation