Abstract
In recent years, computational phantoms (CP) have become subjects of major interests in a wide variety of areas, ranging from medical physics to radiation protection and dosimetry. This PhD thesis is devoted to the development of a detailed and highly flexible male phantom, which is meant to be used for radiation protection purposes and for assessment of doses to occupationally exposed workers. The Realistic Anthropomorphic Flexible (RAF) phantom is the result of this 4-years work, in which the most modern graphic modeling
techniques were used to achieve both accuracy and flexibility. In a broad-spectrum view, these capabilities have been favored by the hardware and software advancements that the movie and video-game industries have
brought in the last five years. Nevertheless, a specialized methodology of development had to be created for achieving the spatial accuracy required in dosimetry, and for assuring reasonable computational load. The
modelling of the phantom anatomy was performed by using recent anatomical atlases, organ reference masses from ICRP Publication 89 and recent medical literature as reference. On the one hand, this approach allowed to simplify and accelerate the modeling of the anatomy, compared to the segmentation of medical images. On the other hand, it also allowed to model organs and tissues with a higher level of detail than the segmentation of tomography images. In this way, the anatomy of the RAF phantom could be implemented with about 2900
tissues. Such level of detail is particularly advantageous for the assessment of dose distribution within organ, and for internal dosimetry application. The postural flexibility of the RAF phantom was achieved by developing a specialized animation framework, called mathematical skeleton. By making use of Inverse Kinematic, Forward Kinematic and morphing, the mathematical skeleton allowed to animate the phantom with nearly real time performances. The greatest advantage given by the mathematical skeleton are the possibility of simulating more realistic simulations for both internal and external dosimetry, and the possibility of using MOCAP data to vary automatically the posture of the phantom. Within the timeframe of this PhD, the use of the RAF phantom for external dosimetry was validated by means of an inter‑comparison with a well‑established reference. In particular, the ICRP Publication 110 male reference phantom and the Dose Coefficients (DC) from ICRP Publication 116 were used as benchmark to determine the validity of the RAF phantom.
techniques were used to achieve both accuracy and flexibility. In a broad-spectrum view, these capabilities have been favored by the hardware and software advancements that the movie and video-game industries have
brought in the last five years. Nevertheless, a specialized methodology of development had to be created for achieving the spatial accuracy required in dosimetry, and for assuring reasonable computational load. The
modelling of the phantom anatomy was performed by using recent anatomical atlases, organ reference masses from ICRP Publication 89 and recent medical literature as reference. On the one hand, this approach allowed to simplify and accelerate the modeling of the anatomy, compared to the segmentation of medical images. On the other hand, it also allowed to model organs and tissues with a higher level of detail than the segmentation of tomography images. In this way, the anatomy of the RAF phantom could be implemented with about 2900
tissues. Such level of detail is particularly advantageous for the assessment of dose distribution within organ, and for internal dosimetry application. The postural flexibility of the RAF phantom was achieved by developing a specialized animation framework, called mathematical skeleton. By making use of Inverse Kinematic, Forward Kinematic and morphing, the mathematical skeleton allowed to animate the phantom with nearly real time performances. The greatest advantage given by the mathematical skeleton are the possibility of simulating more realistic simulations for both internal and external dosimetry, and the possibility of using MOCAP data to vary automatically the posture of the phantom. Within the timeframe of this PhD, the use of the RAF phantom for external dosimetry was validated by means of an inter‑comparison with a well‑established reference. In particular, the ICRP Publication 110 male reference phantom and the Dose Coefficients (DC) from ICRP Publication 116 were used as benchmark to determine the validity of the RAF phantom.
Original language | English |
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Qualification | Doctor of Science |
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Date of Award | 18 Jan 2018 |
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State | Published - 23 Jan 2018 |