Monte carlo study of organ doses and related risk for cancer in Tanzania from scattered photons in cervical radiation treatment involving Co-60 source.

Purpose: The present work aimed to evaluate organ doses and related risk for cancer from external beam radiation treatment (EBRT) and high-dose-rate (HDR) brachytherapy (BT) involving Co-60 source for patients with cervical carcinoma in Tanzania based on Monte Carlo methods and to evaluate the secondary cancer risks in their lifetime.

Methods: EBRT and HDR-BR were modelled by using the MCNPX Monte Carlo (MC) code. The MC simulations were performed by using validated models and isocentric irradiation of an adult female computational phantom. The organ doses and cancer risks estimates were obtained.

Results: The highest absorbed doses of 6.98 × 10 and 5.74 × 10 Sv/Gy were recorded in the bladder for BT and EBRT. The higher risk was found for colon at 1.06 × 10 in the HDR-BT and 9.75 × 10 in the EBRT per 100,000 population at exposure age of 35 years than in the other organs. The risk magnitude decreased with increasing age at exposure. In general, the secondary cancer risks in all sites considered from EBRT and HDR-BR for cervical cancer patient were lower than the baseline risks.

Conclusions: The chances of developing secondary cancer take years following radiation therapy are extremely low, but the results of present study can support to establish a future database on secondary cancer risks involving radiation therapy in patients with cervical cancer by using HDR-BR and EBRT with Co-60 source in Tanzania and other developing countries.