Publications by authors named "William S Santos"

Considering the higher radiosensitivity of children in comparison to adults, studies related to children's exposure to ionising radiation have been long considered of relevance. For this study, the MCNPX2.7.

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Purpose: Uterine fibroids affect women mainly of childbearing age, an alternative for the treatment of these fibroids is uterine artery embolization (UAE), a minimally invasive procedure which uses fluoroscopy, providing radiation doses often high, due to the fact that professionals remain in the room throughout the procedure. In this work, equivalent and effective doses were evaluated for the main physician, for the assistant and for the patient during the UAE procedure.

Methods: Doses were calculated using computer simulation with the Monte Carlo Method, and virtual anthropomorphic phantoms, in a typical scenario of interventional radiology with field sizes of 20 × 20, 25 × 25 and 32 × 32 cm, tube voltages of 70, 80, 90 and 100 kV, and projections of LAO45, RAO45 and PA.

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The influence of the angular deviation of the tube during digital breast tomosynthesis (DBT) acquisition to the dose in the examined breast and in other organs and tissues is not well known. In this work, the Monte Carlo method was used with an adult female virtual anthropomorphic phantom to investigate the impact of this angular variation on the breast dose. The absorbed dose in the examined breast was normalized by the air kerma, which resulted in an absorbed dose coefficient (DT/Kair) for the breast.

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Purpose: Evaluation of the out-of-field dose is an important aspect in radiotherapy. Due to the fetus radiosensitivity, this evaluation becomes even more conclusive when the patient is pregnant. In this work, a linear accelerator Varian Clinac 2100c operating at 6 MV, a pregnant anthropomorphic phantom (Maria), and different shields added above the abdominal region of the phantom were used for the analysis based on MCNPX.

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The objective of this study was to estimate the risk of radiation-induced injury to the organs due to ionizing radiation following breast screening recommendations employing digital breast tomosynthesis (DBT) and digital mammography (DM). Using the Monte Carlo method, absorbed doses in the tissues and organs were calculated on an adult female phantom, considering two-view craniocaudal (CC) and mediolateral oblique (MLO) projections for each breast. The results showed differences in the total effective risk due to DM (CC + MLO) and DBT (CC + MLO) examinations in Brazil, ranging from 20.

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Thermoluminescence dosimeters containing boron, such as magnesium tetraborate (MgBO), are of interest because of their very high sensitivity, near tissue-equivalent absorption coefficients, low cost, easy handling, and very large linearity range for absorbed dose. Another important parameter that should be considered when working with thermoluminescent dosimeter (TLD) is the mass energy absorption coefficient (μ/ρ), which is a close approximation to the energy available for production of chemical, biological and other effects associated with exposure to ionizing radiation, therefore important in estimating dose in medical and health physics. In this study the mass energy absorption coefficients and energy responses of undoped and some doped magnesium tetraborates were calculated by Monte Carlo N-particle transport code for a range of photon energies between 20 keV and 20 MeV.

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Granites are widely used in construction and they may be potential sources of ionizing radiation, due to the presence of radionuclides such as Kand decay products from Useries and Thseries. These radionuclides occur in the minerals constituting the rocks. To evaluate the doses in humans exposed to K, and decay products from Useries and Thseries γ radiation, a room with dimensions of 4.

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A study of the influence of a dosimetric holder and its cover for the irradiation of the dosimeters in the Beta Secondary Standard BSS2 radiation fields is reported. The correction factors for attenuation or scattering were calculated taking into account the BSS2 beta source energy, as well as the detector source distance. The study and the determination of these factors were carried out using the Monte Carlo Method.

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The dosimetric measurements of Pm beta radiation beams have limitations due to their low energy, low dose rate, great dispersion and attenuation in air or tissue. In this work, the Monte Carlo model was developed for a Pm absorbed dose rate determination. This model consists of an extrapolation chamber and a Pm beta radiation source.

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In this study we evaluated the occupational exposures during an abdominal fluoroscopically guided interventional radiology procedure. We investigated the relation between the Body Mass Index (BMI), of the patient, and the conversion coefficient values (CC) for a set of dosimetric quantities, used to assess the exposure risks of medical radiation workers. The study was performed using a set of male and female virtual anthropomorphic phantoms, of different body weights and sizes.

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In this work we investigated the way in which conversion coefficients from air kerma-area product for effective doses (CCE) and entrance skin doses (CCESD) in interventional radiology (IR) are affected by variations in the filtration, projection angle of the X-ray beam, lead curtain attached to the surgical table, and suspended shield lead glass in regular conditions of medical practice. Computer simulations were used to model an exposure scenario similar to a real IR room. The patient and the physician were represented by MASH virtual anthropomorphic phantoms, inserted in the MCNPX 2.

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