Abstract
Background: The thermoluminescent dosimeter (TLD) and Monte Carlo (MC) dosimetry are carried out to determine the occupational dose for personnel in the handling of 125I seed sources.Materials and Methods: TLDs were placed in different layers of the Alderson-Rando phantom in the thyroid, lung and also eyes and skin surface. An 125I seed source was prepared and its activity was measured using a dose calibrator and was placed at two distances of 20 and 50 cm from the Alderson-Rando phantom. In addition, the Monte Carlo N-Particle Extended (MCNPX 2.6.0) code and a computational phantom with a lattice-based geometry were used for organ dose calculations.Results and Discussion: The comparison of TLD and MC results in the thyroid and lung is consistent. Although the relative difference of MC dosimetry to TLD for the eyes was between 4% and 13% and for the skin between 19% and 23%, because of the existence of a higher uncertainty regarding TLD positioning in the eye and skin, these inaccuracies can also be acceptable. The isodose distribution was calculated in the cross-section of the head phantom when the 125I seed was at two distances of 20 and 50 cm and it showed that the greatest dose reduction was observed for the eyes, skin, thyroid, and lungs, respectively. The results of MC dosimetry indicated that for near the head positions (distance of 20 cm) the absorbed dose rates for the eye lens, eye and skin were 78.1±2.3, 59.0±1.8, and 10.7±0.7 µGy/mCi/hr, respectively. Furthermore, we found that a 30 cm displacement for the 125I seed reduced the eye and skin doses by at least 3- and 2-fold, respectively.Conclusion: Using a computational phantom to monitor the dose to the sensitive organs (eye and skin) for personnel involved in the handling of 125I seed sources can be an accurate and inexpensive method.