Question

Jack underwent radiation therapy using a beam of neutrons to treat a skin cancer on his hand. He received a dose equivalent of 2.0 Sv  that was absorbed in 23 gof tissue. The relative biological effectiveness (RBE) of these neutrons is 10.

A. What absorbed dose of radiation did Jack receive?

B. What was the total energy of the absorbed radiation?

C. Suppose Jill, also being treated for skin cancer, received the same absorbed dose, but from an electron beam (beta particles) with an RBE of 1.1. What dose equivalent did she receive?

Answer 1

(a) The Dose equivalent is given by,

Here the weighting factor W is the RBE and D is the absorbed dose, Therefore we can write,

(b) The absorbed dose is amount of energy absorbed per unit mass, Hence we can write,

Substituting values we get,

(c) The dose equivalent will be,