CONICET | Buscador de Institutos y Recursos Humanos

Imaging and therapeutic techniques aimed to neoplastic diseases incorporate the use of ionizing radiation as part of themedical procedure. In this context, it is crucial to achieve reliable and accurate dosimetry. This task can be addressedby experimental methods for in-vivo dosimetry or calculations based on models radiation transport in biological systems.However, from the operational point of view, it may be desirable to develop methods capable of in-situ and on-linedosimetry. Currently, there are not commercially techniques available for this purpose. Therefore, there are significantefforts of the scientific community dedicated to the study of methods with such capabilities. Thereby, in conjunctionwith other motivations linked to dosimetric performance, there were under investigation in the last years issues regardingthe potential use of nano-particles in radio-oncology treatments.This paper reports on specific activities relating to the design and experimental setup to determine the ability to detectthe presence of nano-particles in phantoms that emulates patients. The first step consisted of modelling the effect onthe interaction properties by means of calculating effective macroscopic cross sections according to the concentrationof nano-particles within the water-equivalent environment. Special interest was dedicated to the calculation of pair(positron-electron) creation-annihilation. Monte Carlo subroutines were developed in order to perform simulations toinvestigate both radiation production and detection processes with the aim of seeking for correlations between charac-teristic fluorescence and e+-e-annihilation emissions with nano-particles location, concentration and type. Comparisonswere performed between the results obtained with the FLUKA, PENELOPE and MCNP Monte Carlo main codes.