RADIATION RESEARCH 119, 582-583 (1989)

BOOK REVIEW
TissueSubstitutesin RadiationDosimetryandMeasurement.Report44, InternationalCommissionon
RadiationUnits andMeasurements,Bethesda,Maryland,1989, 189pp.

The ICRU is responsiblefor developinga system of quantitiesand units having

the widestpossiblerangeof applicability.Theirmanyreportscertainlyhelp meetthat
goal.Eachtime I readan ICRU report,I wantto personallythankthe committeethat
preparedit. Report44 on tissuesubstitutesis no exception.It complementsmany of
the otherICRU reportsthatdealwiththe theoryand measurementof radiationdose.
PastICRU reportsdescribedany materialwith radiationabsorptionand scattering
propertiessimilarto biologicaltissue as "tissue-equivalent"material.Report44 ex-
plains that "tissue substitute"describesthe materialbetter, and henceforthICRU
will use tissue substituteinsteadof tissue equivalent.Tissue substitutesare usefulin
determiningthe absorbeddose, especiallywhen informationon the energyand the
natureof the chargedparticlesat the point of interestis incompleteor fragmentary.
Report44 describeshow phantoms,interactioncoefficients,and dosimetricquan-
tities all play a role in the ultimatedose. The reportpresentsa cleardiscussionof the
interactionsof photons, electrons,neutrons,and heavy chargedparticleswith body
tissues.The next sectionof the reportincludesa similardiscussionof radiationinter-
actions with tissue substitutes.The committee points out that no single chemical
compound matchesthe atomic compositionof body tissue;hence tissue substitutes
are mixturesformulatedso that their radiationinteractionproperties,ratherthan
their atomic composition, match those of body tissue to the degree necessaryfor
specificapplication.
Becauseeach radiotherapy,radiodiagnosis,or radiationprotectiondosimetryap-
plication requiresdifferentdegreesof accuracy,Chapter3 discusseshow the tissue
substituterequirementscan be met. Table4.4 presentsICRU-recommendedelemen-
tal compositionsand densitiesfor 24 body tissues.However,the committeecautions
that biologicalvariabilitydoes not allow body-tissuecompositionsto be given the
standingof physicalconstants.
Sixty-twotissue-substituteformulationswereselectedby the committeeforevalua-
tion. These includewater,whichwas describedas a musclesubstitutein 1906, and a
foamedepoxy with fillerscalledLN 10/75 that was introducedas a lung substitutein
1986.The reportprovidestablesof the physicalpropertiesof the 62 tissuesubstitutes
and comparativeinteractiondata for photons, electrons,and protons. The energy
dependencefor 25 of the tissuesubstitutesarepresentedin the formof figures.
AppendixA presentsthe elementalcomposition,density,and electrondensityfor
the 62 tissuesubstitutes.AppendixB providesmassattenuationcoefficients,electron
mass stoppingpowers,and electron mass scatteringpowersfor 33 energiesranging

0033-7587/89$3.00 582
Copyright ? 1989 by Academic Press, Inc.
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from 10 keV to 100 MeV. The tablesinclude24 differenttissuesand 62 tissuesubsti-

tutes.Thissectionof the reportconsistsof 133pagesandabout50,000 values.Appen-
dix C is the "howto" sectionof the reportand describesmethodsof fabricatingphan-
toms and detectorswith tissuesubstitutes.
This reportis well arrangedwith a page of symbolsused in the reportand a well
preparedindex.In summary,the ICRUhasonce againplayeda majorrolein advanc-
ing the knowledgebasethatis neededforthe properuse of tissuesubstitutesin macro-
and microdosimetry.
ROGER J. CLOUTIER

OakRidgeAssociatedUniversities
OakRidge, Tennessee37831-0117