Radiation Weighting Factor

The quality factor (Q) is intended to relate the biological effectiveness of a radiation to the
absorbed dose delivered in tissue. Quality factors are defined as a function of the unrestricted
linear energy transfer (L) relationship in water and are used with operational quantities.
Radiation weighting factors (wR) are used in protection quantities to take into account total
radiation detriment. Different Radiations need to have quality factors in order to express their
biological effectiveness. For example: the equivalent dose is the product of the absorbed dose
averaged over the tissue or organ and the WR selected for the type and energy of radiation
involved. Sometimes, equivalent doses to various tissues differ substantially and it is well
established that different tissues vary in their sensitivities to radiation-induced stochastic
effects. As it is difficult to produce heritable effects by irradiation of the head or hands. On
the other hand, the thyroid and breast appear to be particularly susceptible to radiation-
induced cancer. To deal with this situation, the ICRP introduced the concept of the tissue
weighting factor (WT), which represents the relative contribution of each tissue or organ to
the total detriment resulting from uniform irradiation of the whole body.

The factor by which absorbed dose is multiplied to obtain a quantity that expresses on a
common scale, biological effects (risks) from exposure to different radiations. Largely
replaced by radiation weighting factor. It is used because some types of radiation, such as
alpha particles, are more biologically damaging internally than other types. The quantity used
to measure the “amount” of ionizing radiation is the absorbed dose, usually termed simply as
dose. This is defined as the energy absorbed per unit mass, and its unit is joules per kilogram,
which is given a special name, the gray (Gy). The probability of a stochastic effect, such as
the induction of cancer or of heritable events, depends not only on the dose, but also on the
type and energy of the radiation; that is, some radiations are biologically more effective for a
given dose than others. This is taken into account by weighting the absorbed dose by a factor
related to the quality of the radiation.

A radiation weighting factor (WR) is a dimensionless multiplier used to place biologic effects
(risks) from exposure to different types of radiation on a common scale. The WRs are chosen
by the ICRP as representative of relative biologic effectiveness (RBE) applicable to low
doses and low dose rates (LDR), and for biologic end points relevant to stochastic late
effects. They can be traced ultimately to experimentally determined RBE values, but a large
judgmental factor is involved in their choice. It is the benchmark or the standard for
comparison for all the factors