NCINM2.0

Introduction

The National Cancer Institute Dosimetry System for Nuclear Medicine (NCINM) is a software application designed to estimate organ and effective doses for patients undergoing nuclear medicine procedures. The program relies on an extensive library of S values, which represent organ absorbed dose per administered activity, calculated using Monte Carlo radiation transport techniques for up to 70 source and 60 target regions within a series of computational human phantoms. Organ doses can be calculated based on user inputs, including patient characteristics, radionuclide or radiopharmaceuticals, administered activity, and biokinetic data.

Calculation steps

Patient characteristics

Users need to select the phantom library to use for dose calculations. In the latest version, NCINM2.0, two phantom libraries are available: the UF/NCI reference size phantoms and the ICRP reference voxel phantoms. For both phantom libraries, users can select the patient’s age from five age groups: newborn, 1, 5, 10, 15 years old, and adult (generally assumed to be over 20 years). For patients with an age between these groups, users can either interpolate organ doses from younger and older phantoms (e.g., interpolate organ doses from 5-year and 10-year phantoms for a 7-year-old patient) or select the phantom with the age closest to the patient’s age (e.g., select the 5-year phantom for a 6-year-old patient). Once a phantom is selected, its frontal view will be displayed.

Radionuclides/radiopharmaceuticals

When biokinetic data is available for the radiopharmaceutical of interest, users can select the radionuclide from the list after choosing the Radionuclide tab. Approximately 300 radionuclides commonly used in nuclear medicine procedures are available.

When the biokinetic data for the radiopharmaceutical of interest is unknown, users can select the radiopharmaceutical from the list after choosing the Radiopharmaceutical tab.

Administered activity

Users need to input the administered activity in MBq or mCi (with a default value of 3700 MBq prefilled). The value entered in either unit will be automatically converted to the other. When the Radiopharmaceutical tab is selected, organ doses will be calculated once the administered activity is entered. If the Radionuclide tab is selected, users must enter biokinetic data to calculate organ doses.

Biokinetic data

If the Radionuclide tab is selected, users need to manually enter the biokinetic data for the source regions. When the residence time (h) (or time-integrated activity coefficient, TIAC) is entered, the cumulated activity (MBq-s) will be automatically calculated based on the administered activity entered in the previous step. If the cumulated activity is entered, the residence time will be automatically calculated. If the Radiopharmaceutical tab was selected in the previous step, the residence time column will be automatically populated. If users wish to export S values for their own organ dose calculations, they can click the Export S Values button to save the S values for the selected source regions and age in a CSV file.

Dose output

The OUTPUT PANEL displays the list of target regions, organ mass (g), absorbed dose, and dose per administered activity (mGy/MBq) (also known as the absorbed dose coefficient). Whenever organ doses are updated, the organ absorbed dose is automatically copied to the clipboard. Users can also copy and paste the entire OUTPUT PANEL by dragging the mouse.

Initialize parameters

When users click the Initialize Parameters button, the administered activity, residence time, and organ doses will be set to zero.

How to Access the NCI dose tools

• Non-Commercial Research Use There is no charge to use these resources for non-commercial research purposes. Please click Software Transfer Agreement form, fill out the form in your web browser*, save it to your computer, then obtain the signatures and submit it to Dr. Choonsik Lee.
• Commercial Use Contact Dr. Kevin Chang of the NCI Technology Transfer Center to discuss accessing the free trial version and the licensing process for commercial use.