Radon lung dosimetry models

Abstract

Two different modelling approaches are currently used to calculate short-lived radon progeny doses to the lungs: the semi-empirical compartment model proposed by the International Commission on Radiological Protection and deterministic and stochastic airway generation models. The stochastic generation model IDEAL-DOSE simulates lung morphometry, transport, deposition and clearance of inhaled radionuclides, and cellular dosimetry by Monte Carlo methods. Specific dosimetric issues addressed in this paper are: (1) distributions of bronchial doses among and within bronchial airway generations; (2) relative contributions of radon progeny directly deposited in a given airway generation and those passing through from downstream generations to the bronchial dose in that generation; (3) distribution of bronchial doses among the five lobes of the human lung; (4) inhomogeneity of surface activities and resulting doses within bronchial airway bifurcations; (5) comparison of bronchial doses between non-smokers and smokers; (6) relative contributions of sensitive target cells in bronchial epithelium to lung cancer induction and (7) intra- and intersubject variations of bronchial doses.