Modeling radiation dose and effects from internal emitters in nuclear medicine: from the whole body to individual cells.

In nuclear medicine, proper application of radiation protection principles depends on balancing the potential risks of exposure to ionizing radiation against its possible benefits. Average doses to organs, in diagnostic or therapeutic applications, are not always representative of the doses received at the tissue or cellular level. Therefore, understanding of the relationship between the overall biological effect and absorbed dose delivered by the radiopharmaceutical may require study of doses at the organ, tissue, or cell level. In this paper, we review current models for radiation dose assessment, with consideration of the different models and assumptions employed for study at all levels of investigation.