Evaluation of the Effect of Different Nanoparticles on the Mass Attenuation Coefficient of a Shield in Diagnostic Radiology: A Monte Carlo Study

Hossein  Khosravi; Karim  Ghazikhanlu Sani; Salman  Jafari; Safora  Nikzad

doi:10.18502/fbt.v10i4.13724

Hossein Khosravi Department of Radiology, School of Allied Medical Sciences, Hamadan University of Medical Sciences, Hamadan, Iran
Karim Ghazikhanlu Sani Department of Radiology, School of Allied Medical Sciences, Hamadan University of Medical Sciences, Hamadan, Iran
Salman Jafari Department of Radiology, School of Allied Medical Sciences, Hamadan University of Medical Sciences, Hamadan, Iran
Safora Nikzad Department of Medical Physics, School of Medicine, Hamadan University of Medical Sciences, Hamadan, Iran

DOI: https://doi.org/10.18502/fbt.v10i4.13724

Keywords: Mass Attenuation Coefficient; Nanoparticles; Monte Carlo; Radiology.

Abstract

Purpose: This research aimed to estimate the Mass Attenuation Coefficient (MAC) for the various nanoparticles in diagnostic imaging in order to assess and compare the changes in a bulk state.

Materials and Methods: To Using Monte Carlo N-Particle eXtended (MCNPX) code, nanoparticles were simulated in the target in order to compute the MAC considering the target. The Materials, including Bi, Pb NPs, Pb, W NPs, W, PbO NPs, Bi NPs, Bi₂O₃ NPs, and WO₃ NPs were used in the present study. The gathered data were compared with the theoretical results of the XCOM software for validation.

Results: The findings demonstrated that the radioprotective characteristics of nanoparticles in comparison to the bulk materials were better. Among all these nanoparticles, the rate of attenuation of tungsten nanoparticles was higher than that of other nanoparticles. On the other hand, the density and attenuation rate of nanoparticles of PbO, Bi₂O₃ and WO₃ were lower than those of nanoparticles Pb, W, and Bi. Therefore, all of the abovementioned nanoparticles were lightweight and their design was more flexible than that of bulk materials.

Conclusion: It was concluded that the use of nanoparticles in the protective materials considerably increased the radioprotective characteristics in the diagnostic radiography energy range.