Quality Factor for Low Doses of High-LET Radiations

Authors

• Werner Hofmann, University of Salzburg
• Robert Katz, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow

Document Type

Article

Date of this Version

February 1983

Comments

Published in Health Physics 44:2 (February 1983), pp. 173–175. Published by Pergamon Press Ltd. Used by permission.

Abstract

The International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP77) and the International Commision on Radiation Units and Measurements (ICRU70) have recommended that the evaluation of radiation hazards be based on the “dose equivalent” defined as the product of the absorbed dose and some modifying factors, the most important of which is the quality factor (Q). The quality factor is intended to allow for the effect on the resulting detriment of the microscopic distribution of the absorbed energy. It is therefore defined as a function of the collision stopping power (L_∞) in water at the point of interest. Thus Q rises monotonically with increasing LET until 175 keV/μm where it achieves a value of 20 and remains at 20 for all higher values of LET.