Equations for estimating chest wall thickness in lung counting at JAEA-NCL

Kanai, Katsuta; Kurihara, Osamu

Chest wall thickness (CWT) of the subject is an important modifier to determine the lung burden of inhaled actinides such as Pu isotopes or Am through lung counting. CWT prediction equations as a function of biometric indexes have been proposed by many authors based on chest wall measurements made with an ultrasound device. In the present study we derived such equations from CWT data of our subjects and then evaluated their applicability to monitoring with our currently used lung counter, mainly examining the accuracy of determinations of Am, useful as a unique indicator that can be detected in most cases of internal contamination with Pu compounds. The error of the equations obtained was found to be within the range of - 8 mm to + 6 mm against actual CWT values of our subjects, complying with the bias performance criteria for direct measurements. However, further studies might be needed to clarify the effect of the difference in posture on the CWT caused by the modification of the counting geometry made for our lung counter.