Fetal and Maternal Atomic Bomb Survivor Dosimetry Using the J45 Pregnant Female Phantom Series: Considerations of the Kneeling and Lying Posture with Comparisons to the DS02 System

Abstract

Abstract Organ dosimetry data of the atomic bomb survivors and the resulting cancer risk models derived from these data are currently assessed within the DS02 dosimetry system developed through the Joint US–Japan Dosimetry Working Group. In DS02, the anatomical survivor models are limited to three hermaphroditic stylized phantoms—an adult (55 kg), a child (19.8 kg), and an infant (9.7 kg)—that were originally designed for the preceding DS86 dosimetry system. As such, organ doses needed for assessment of in-utero cancer risks to the fetus have continued to rely upon the use of the uterine wall in the adult non-pregnant stylized phantom as the dose surrogate for all fetal organs regardless of gestational age. To address these limitations, the Radiation Effects Research Foundation (RERF) Working Group on Organ Dose (WGOD) has established the J45 (Japan 1945) series of high-resolution voxel phantoms, which were derived from the UF/NCI series of hybrid phantoms and scaled to match mid-1940s Japanese body morphometries. The series includes male and female phantoms—newborn to adult—and four pregnant female phantoms at gestational ages of 8, 15, 25, and 38 wk post-conception. In previous studies, we have reported organ dose differences between those reported by the DS02 system and those computed by the WGOD using 3D Monte Carlo radiation transport simulations of atomic bomb gamma-ray and neutron fields for the J45 phantoms series in their traditional “standing” posture, with some variations in their facing direction relative to the bomb hypocenter. In this present study, we present the J45 pregnant female phantoms in both a “kneeling” and “lying” posture and assess the dosimetric impact of these more anatomically realistic survivor models in comparison to current organ doses given by the DS02 system. For the kneeling phantoms facing the bomb hypocenter, organ doses from bomb source photon spectra were shown to be overestimated by the DS02 system by up to a factor of 1.45 for certain fetal organs and up to a factor of 1.17 for maternal organs. For lying phantoms with their feet in the direction of the hypocenter, fetal organ doses from bomb source photon spectra were underestimated by the DS02 system by factors as low as 0.77, while maternal organ doses were overestimated by up to a factor of 1.38. Organs doses from neutron contributions to the radiation fields exhibited an increasing overestimation by the DS02 stylized phantoms as gestational age increased. These discrepancies are most evident in fetal organs that are more posterior within the mother’s womb, such as the fetal brain. Further analysis revealed that comparison of these postures to the original standing posture indicate significant dose differences for both maternal and fetal organ doses depending on the type of irradiation. Results from this study highlight the degree to which the existing DS02 system can differ from organ dosimetry based upon 3D radiation transport simulations using more anatomically realistic models of those survivors exposed during pregnancy.