Dosimetry Studies and Ionizing Radiation Shielding Design Caused by Imaging of Breast Cancer Cells

Ionizing radiation protection is one of the most fundamental research and application fields in reducing the absorbed dose of sensitive internal organs. The presence of lead as the first radiation shield with a series of good features such as high density and having some flexibility and a series of bad features such as toxicity, low physical and chemical stability and high weight, have been thinking about replacing it for a long time. In the mammography section, the lead shields present during mammography cause limitations in the patient's work and are generally not used. As a result, they lose their efficiency. Therefore, it is necessary to propose and design a lead-free shield that can have suitable radiation attenuation in the range of mammography energy up to 60 keV and does not create limitations for the patient compared to the existing shields in this sector.

In this study, the evaluation of X-ray and gamma-ray shielding for nine different proposed compounds was done using a computational code MCNPX based on the Monte Carlo method, in the photon energy range of 15 to 400 keV, which is the energy range used in Covers the mammography section.

Among the selected protective compounds, the combination of Kennertium showed a more suitable protective function than the other compounds. To reach such a result, the mass attenuation coefficient of the Kennertium compound has been calculated in three thicknesses of 0.1, 0.5, and 1.5 cm. In the following, to check the performance of selected shields of ionizing radiation, for the thickness of 1 mm of Kennertium composition, the dose reached the tissues close to the tumoral area located in the patient's left breast, such as the left lung, thyroid, and heart, has been calculated with the presence of such protection.

Quantitative results show that the Kennertium compound completely covers the energy range above 60 keV and as a proposed compound for interacting with X-rays, does not produce secondary particles.