Calculation algorithm of three-dimensional absorbed dose distribution due to in vivo administration of nuclides for radiotherapy

In the in vivo administration of radionuclides for radiotherapy including radioimmunotherapy, an algorithm is proposed for the purpose of calculating three-dimensional absorbed dose distributions of tumors and adjacent tissues, and neighboring organs. The absorved dose distribution due to the algorithm is given by convolution of the three-dimensional dose matrix for a unit cubic voxel containing unit cumulated activity, with the three-dimensional matrix of the cumulated ability distribution given by the same voxel size above. The dose calculation algorithm does not depend upon the source size, the source shape, and the nonuniform and irregular activity distribution. In addition, it can exceedingly decrease computation time compared to other calculation algorithms. Computer simulations were performed using the MIRD thyroid phantom for 32P, 90Y, 131I, 186Re, and 188Re that appear promising for radioimmunotherapy, and their results verified the validity of the proposed calculation algorithm and high accuracy of the calculations. (author)