High-LET dose-response characteristics by track structure theory of heavy charged particles

The track structure theory developed by Katz and co-workers ascribes the effect of high-LET radiation to the highly inhomogeneous dose distribution due to low energy Δ-rays ejected from the particle track. The theory predicts the effectiveness of high-LET radiation by using the ion parameters zsub(eff') effective charge of the ion, and β = v/c, the relative ion velocity, together with the characteristic dose D37 derived from low-LET dose-response characteristic of the detector and the approximate size asub(0) of the sensitive element of the detector. 60Co gamma-irradiation is used as a reference low-LET radiation, while high-LET radiation ranging from 16 MeV protons to 4 MeV/amu 160-ions covering an initial LET range of 30-5500 MeVcm2/g is obtained from a tandem Van de Graaff accelerator. A thin film (5mg/cm2) radiochromic dye cyanide plastic dosemeter was used as detector with the characteristic dose of 16.8 Mrad and a sensitive element size of 10-7 cm. Theoretical and experimental effectiveness, RBE, agreed within 10 to 25% depending on LET. (author)