Designing attenuators for total-body irradiation using virtual simulation.

In total-body photon irradiation, the lungs are the most commonly shielded organ. Lung compensators are often designed by using high-energy portal films. Other organs, such as the kidneys and liver, are poorly visualized in portal films due to their unit-density composition. A computed tomography-based technique to design kidney and liver attenuators involves outlining these organs in a virtual simulation. The position and the shape of the attenuator are then determined from a digitally-reconstructed radiograph. Appropriate attenuator thickness is determined from measured transmission curves. This article provides a summary of this technique for total-body photon irradiation in a 4-MV photon beam.