Evaluation of absorbed dose using Monte Carlo method in thyroid follicles considering a heterogeneous distribution of radioactive iodine

Radioisotopes of iodine are produced in abundance in nuclear fission reactions, and great amounts of radioiodine may be released into the environment in case of a nuclear reactor accident. Thyroid gland is among the most radiosensitive organs due to its capacity to concentrate iodine. In the Chernobyl accident, the population exposed has iodine deficiency would enhance avidity of the thyroid gland for iodine. The internal contamination of thyroid could be result in the development of cancer of thyroid, and then is very important to evaluate the biodistribution of iodine at the cellular level. In general, a retrospective dosimetry involving accidental internal contamination is not an easy task because of lack of information about conditions of exposure. The aim of this work was to evaluate the importance of the heterogeneous distribution of internally deposited iodines to the dose absorbed to thyroid's follicle, using Monte Carlo method. (author)