ICRP Publication 110: Adult Reference Computational Phantoms

This report describes the development and intended use of the computational phantoms of the Reference Male and Reference Female. In its recent recommendations (ICRP Publication 103: Recommendations of the ICRP. Annals of the ICRP 37(2-3) (2007)), the ICRP adopted these computational phantoms for forthcoming updates of organ dose coefficients for both internal and external radiation sources. The phantoms are based on medical image data of real persons, yet are consistent with the data given in ICRP Publication 89 on the reference anatomical and physiological parameters for both male and female subjects. The reference phantoms are constructed after modifying the voxel models (Golem and Laura) of two individuals whose body height and mass resembled the reference data. The organ masses of both models were adjusted to the ICRP data on the adult Reference Male and Reference Female, without compromising their anatomic realism. This report describes the methods used for this process and the characteristics of the resulting computational phantoms.

The Introduction summarises the main reasons for constructing these phantoms - voxel phantoms being the state of the art, and the necessity of compliance with the anatomical characteristics of the ICRP 89 Reference Male and Reference Female . Chapter 2 summarises the specifications of the computational phantoms with respect to external dimensions and the source and target regions that are required; Chapter 3 characterises the previously segmented voxel models Golem and Laura that are the origin of the reference phantoms; Chapter 4 sketches the modifications that had to be applied to these models to create voxel models of the Reference Male and Reference Female; Chapter 5 is a description of the resulting reference computational phantoms of the Reference Male and Reference Female; and Chapter 6 indicates their applications and highlights their limitations.

The phantoms` technical description is contained in Appendices A-H that form the larger part of this Publication. The numerical data representing the phantoms are contained on an electronic data storage medium (CD-ROM) that accompanies the printed publication. One of the aims of the report is to assist those who want to implement the phantoms for their own calculations.

Furthermore, to illustrate the uses of these phantoms, graphical illustrations of conversion coefficients for some external and internal exposures are included in Appendices I-L. A comprehensive set of recommended values will be published in separate reports.

Keywords: Computational phantoms, voxel models, Reference Male, Reference Female