1987 Douglas Lea memorial lecture. Particle dosimetry in bone and the toxicity of bone-seeking radionuclides.

Consideration is given to the tissues at risk in bone and a Monte Carlo method is described which determines the absorbed dose to endosteal tissues and marrow in trabecular bone. The method synthesizes random tracks through the trabecular structures that deposit energy along a path through any given trabecular cavity. The path lengths through the trabeculae and marrow cavities are measured with a bone-scanning microscope and other bone data, such as trabecular surface areas, can also be derived.

Photoelectron enhancement of the absorbed dose from X rays to human bone marrow: experimental and theoretical studies.

A technique is described by which lithium fluoride powder is introduced into the marrow cavities in specimens of human trabecular bone to determine the excess photoelectron dose to marrow, when bone is irradiated by X rays of energies between 20 keV and 140 keV. Three specimens of trabecular bone, containing respectively 10, 15 and 25% bone by volume, were investigated and the results compared with those derived on the basis of earlier calculations for mono-energetic electrons by Whitwell. Reasonable agreement was found between the experimental and theoretical results, although there was some indication that scatter influenced the practical measurements at the higher photon energies.