1. 1.

5 Gy of gamma radiation are directed into a 150 g tumor during radiation

therapy. How much energy does the tumor absorb?

2. The doctors planning a radiation therapy treatment have determined that a

100-g tumor needs to receive 0.20 J of gamma radiation. What is the dose in
gray?

3. A 50-kg laboratory worker is exposed to 20 mJ of beta radiation with RBE =

1.5. What is the dose in mrem?

4. How many gray of gamma photons cause the same biological damage as 30 Gy
of alpha radiation with an RBE of 15?

5. A 75-kg patient swallows a 30µCi beta emitter that is to be used as a tracer.

The isotope’s half-life is 5.0 days. The average energy of the beta particles is
0.35 MeV with an RBE of 1.5. Ninety percent of the beta particles are absorbed
within the patient’s body and 10% escape. What equivalent dose (in mrem) does
the patient receive?

6. A chest x-ray uses 10 keV photons with an RBE of 0.85. A 60-kg person
receives a 0.30 mSv dose from one chest x-ray that exposes 25% of the patient’s
body. How many x-ray photons are absorbed in the patient’s body?

7. Medical experiments have shown that stable isotopes of a particular element

are excreted with a 6.0 day half-life. A radioactive isotope of the same element
has a half-life of 9.0 days. What is the effective half-life of the isotope in a
patient’s body?

Solution:

1.
E
AD=
m

(
E=( AD ) ( m )= 1.5
J
kg)( 0.150 kg )=0.23 J

2.

E 0.20 J
AD= = =2.0 Gy
m 0.100 kg

3.
 Determine the absorbed dose:

E 20 mJ
AD= = =0.4 mGy
m 50 kg

Compute for the equivalent dose

ED= AD x RBE=0.4 mGy x 1.5=0.6 mSv

Convert to mrem

0.6 x 10−3 Sv x ( 1001 Svrem )( 10001remmrem )=60 mrem

4.

To produce the same degree of biological damage

(ED )γ =(ED )α

( AD γ )( RBE γ ) =( AD α ) ( RBE α )

AD γ =AD α
( RBE α
RBE γ )
=( 30 Gy )
15
1 ( )
=450Gy

5.

Convert the activity in Curie to Becquerel

( )
10
−6 3.7 x 10 Bq 6
R=30 x 10 Ci =1.11 x 10 Bq
1 Ci

Determine the decay constant of the beta emitter from its half-life

ln 2 ln 2 −6 −1
λ= = =1.605 x 10 s
t 1 /2
5 days (
24 h 3600 s
1 day 1h )( )
The number of beta particles emitted = the number of nuclei that decayed.

6
R 1.11 x 10 Bq 11
N= = =6.916 x 10
λ 1.605 x 10−6 s−1

Get 90% of the total beta particles emitted. Calculate the total energy.
 ( )
−13
11 1.6 x 10 J
E=( 25 MeV /beta ) ( 0.90 ) ( 6.916 x 10 ) =0.03485 J
1 MeV

Calculate the absorbed dose:

E 0.03485 J −4
AD= = =4.65 x 10 Gy
m 76 kg

Determine the equivalent dose:

ED= AD x RBE=( 4.65 x 10−4 Gy ) (1.5 )=6.97 x 10−4 Sv

Convert to mrem

6.97 x 10
−4
Sv ( 1001 Svrem )( 10001remmrem )=69.7 mrem
6.

Calculate the absorbed dose

−3
ED 0.3 x 10 Sv −4
AD= = =3.53 x 10 Gy∨J /kg
RBE 0.85

Since only ¼ of the body is exposed, the energy absorbed is

( )
−4
10 J
E= 3.53 x ( 0.25 ) (60 kg)=5.29 x 10−3 J
kg

Convert the energy of each photon in eV to Joules

( )=1.6 x 10
−19
1.6 x 10
3 J −15
10 x 10 eV J
1 eV

The number of photons emitted is

( )
−3
5.29 x 10 J 12
n= −15
=3.3 x 10 photons
1.6 x 10 J / photon

7.

1 1 1 1 5
t effective= + = + =
t bio t 1/ 2 6 d 9 d 18 d
 18 d
t eff = =3.6 days
5