Microdosimetry of alpha-emitting bone seekers

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Abstract
Summary Microdosimetric probability distributions of specific energyf(z) in cell nuclei at alpha-contaminated bone surfaces are determined. The calculations are based on autoradiographic measurements of specific endosteal surface activities of rats injected with 239-Pu. The effect of a variation of the surface activity and target density and a correlation of both is discussed. A mathematical description of trabecular bone remodeling is given and the dependence of specific energy deposition on remodeling processes is demonstrated. For non-age-dependent remodeling and relatively large numbers of hits (> 20) the main contribution to the variation off(z) comes from the variation of residual lifetimes and specific surface activities. With small numbers of hits (< 1) the variation is mainly determined by the Poisson hit statistics and the width of the single event spectrum.