ICRP PUBLICATION – Paediatric Reference Computational Phantoms
Draft for consultation – September/October 2018
Introduction
The following review was prepared by the Carl E. Ravin Advanced Imaging Labs at Duke University, USA through a collaborative discussion. The following individuals contributed to the review:
Francesco Ria – DMP, Duke University
Paul Segars – PhD, Duke University
Ehsan Samei, PhD, Duke University
Overall this is an important publication that describes the development and the use of a series of computational phantoms representing the reference male and female at newborn, 1-year-old, 5-year-old, 10-year-old, and 15-year-old as defined in ICRP Publication 89. The phantoms described in the document were derived from a corresponding series of computational phantoms developed at the University of Florida (Lee et al., 2010). However, many other computational phantoms models have been recently developed in many institutions following IRCP 89 recommendations. We think that such phantoms are consistent with the purposes of the present document. For this reason, we propose to add the following section to the draft to acknowledge the use of other paediatric reference computation phantoms developed according to ICRP Publication 89.
As described in section 2, ICRP Publication 89 reports detailed information on age- and gender-related differences in the anatomical and physiological characteristics of reference individuals. Following this recommendation, many computational models have been developed in different institutions. For instance, sets of reference phantoms have been developed at Duke University (Durham, NC, USA) and Vanderbilt University (Nashville, TN, USA) for adult and pediatric populations [1-4]. Consistent with this report, these reference phantoms were developed according to the body morphometry specifications of the reference individuals reported in Table 2.9 of ICRP Publication 89. Every computational phantom developed according to the anatomic specifications of Publication 89 is consistent with the purpose of the present report, provided that the method is properly referenced.
Beyond reference individuals, many other pediatric phantoms have been developed by other institutions based upon their own unique sets of data [5]. For example, Segars et al [6] created 64 pediatric phantoms each based on a unique set of CT data selected to represent different ages, heights, and weights. As more and more such models are developed, they can be used in conjunction with the reference phantoms to investigate organ dose in individuals of different size and organ morphometry.
References
[1] Segars WP, Sturgeon G, Mendonca S, Grimes J, Tsui BMW, "4D XCAT phantom for multimodality imaging research," Med Phys, vol. 37, pp. 4902-4915, 2010.
[2] Norris H, Zhang Y, Bond J, Sturgeon GM, Minhas A, Tward DJ, Ratnanather JT, Miller MI, Frush D, Samei E, and Segars WP, “A set of 4D pediatric XCAT reference phantoms for multimodality research”, Medical Physics, vol. 41, 033071, 2014.
[3] Stabin M, Emmons MA, Segars WP, Fernald M, Brill AB, “ICRP-89 based adult and pediatric phantom Series”, J. Nucl. Med., vol. 49, supplement 1, 14P, 2008.
[4] Stabin MG, Xu XG, Emmons MA, Segars WP, Shi C, Fernald MJ, “RADAR reference adult, pediatric and pregnant female phantom series for internal and external dosimetry”, J. Nucl. Med., vol. 53, pp. 1807–1813, 2012.
[5] Xu XG, “An exponential growth of computational phantom research in radiation protection, imaging, and radiotherapy: a review of the fifty-year history”, Phys Med Biol., vol. 59, pp. R233-302, 2014.
[6] Segars WP, Norris H, Sturgeon G, Zhang Y, Bond J, Minhas A, Tward DJ, Ratnanather T, Miller MI, Frush D, and Samei E, “The development of a population of 4D pediatric XCAT phantoms for imaging research and optimization”, Medical Physics, vol. 42, 2015.