ABSTRACT
This chapter concerns how Dose point-kernels (DPKs) are obtained. It describes the various data sets available in the literature. The chapter considers the domains for the use of DPKs in radionuclide dosimetry. The methods used to generate DPKs have kept pace with changes in the experimental data available and benefited from spectacular progress in the field of numerical calculation. Point-kernel dose calculations implicitly assume that the absorbed dose is deposited within a uniform, isotropic medium. DPKs are frequently used for calculations on a cellular scale, for which the medium can often be considered as homogeneous and isotropic. Dose point-kernels constitute one of the tools available for performing dosimetric calculations in nuclear medicine. DPKs constitute the most suitable approach when the medium is actually homogeneous and isotropic, but provide only a stop-gap solution when it is heterogeneous and an estimation of delivered doses is required within a reasonable time.
