Charged Particle Interactions of Human Organs and Tissues in Heavy Ion Therapy; Effective Atomic Number and Electron Density

In this work, various organs of human and tissues were studied in terms of the effective atomic numbers (Zeff) and electron densities (Ne) in the continuous kinetic energy region for different types of heavy ions. Variations of Zeff and Ne with kinetic energy were investigated and significant variations were noted. In addition, water and tissue equivalences of the given materials with respect to their Zeff and Ne were evaluated based on the results obtained. The best water equivalents were found to be Urinary Bladder_Urine for H, He and C ions and Skeleton Cartilage for Ne ion since differences in Zeff relative to water for H (≤%3), He (≤%1), C (≤%1) and Ne (≤%6) ions were significantly low. Moreover, variations in water equivalences of the materials have been discussed in detail in the continuous energy region. The reported data should be useful when heavy ions are intended to be used in these materials for radiotherapy and dosimetry applications as they represent the interaction of ions with these materials in the continuous kinetic energy region.