1. NAME AND TITLE

CALKUX: Code System to Calculate Exposure Transmission of Medical X-ray Beams Through Barrier Materials.

2. CONTRIBUTOR

Douglas J. Simpkin, Department of Radiology, St. Luke's Medical Center, Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

3. CODING LANGUAGE AND COMPUTER

FORTRAN 77; IBM PC and compatibles.

4. NATURE OF PROBLEM SOLVED

CALKUX performs a variety of functions related to the transmission of medical diagnostic x-ray beams through common shielding materials, including Pb, concrete, steel, gypsum wallboard, and plate glass.

5. METHOD OF SOLUTION

Given the broad beam transmission through a barrier, CALKUX will determine what thickness of material caused that transmission. Conversely, for a given barrier thickness, CALKUX will present the transmission and hardened HVL that result from penetration through this barrier. CALKUX manipulates fits of the broad beam exposure transmission to the equation of Archer, et al. This same equation can be inverted to solve for barrier thickness x and the next HVL predicted for a beam that has penetrated a known barrier thickness. The fitting parameters are those published for constant potential 70, 100, 120, and 140 kVcp radiographic beams, 120 and 140 kVcp CT beams, and 50 kVp W and 30 and 35 kVp Mo mammography beams.

6. RESTRICTIONS OR LIMITATIONS

Applications are restricted to only those x-ray beams mentioned above.

7. TYPICAL RUNNING TIME

KUX is interactive and takes a few seconds on a PC with a math coprocessor.

8. COMPUTER HARDWARE REQUIREMENTS

CALKUX runs on IBM PC and compatibles and could be recompiled on any machine with a FORTRAN-77 compiler. The executable code does not require a math co-processor.

9. COMPUTER SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS

The code was written in FORTRAN 77 and was tested under DOS 3.3 (IBM PC). An executable file, produced by the MSFORT Version 4.01 compiler, is included.

10. REFERENCES

a. Included in the documentation:

Douglas J. Simpkin, ``Shielding Requirements for Mammography,'' Health Physics 53(3), 267-279 (Sept. 1987).

Douglas J. Simpkin, ``Shielding Requirements for Constant-Potential Diagnostic X-Ray Beams Determined by a Monte Carlo Calculation,'' Health Physics 56(2), 151-164 (Feb. 1989).

Douglas J. Simpkin, ``Transmission of Scatter Radiation from Computed Tomography (CT) Scanners Determined by a Monte Carlo Calculation,'' Health Physics 58(3), 363-367 (March 1990).

Douglas J. Simpkin, Sample Session of Interactive Execution,'' 1989.

b. Background information:

``B. R. Archer, J. I. Thornby, and S. C. Bushong, ``Diagnostic X-ray Shielding Design Based on an Empirical Model of Photon Attenuation,'' Health Physics 44, 507-517 (1983).

11. CONTENTS OF CODE PACKAGE

Included are the referenced documents and a 5.25-in. DS/DD (360 K) diskette on which the programs and executable files are written.

12. DATE OF ABSTRACT

October 1991.