MARCELL(TM) SOFTWARE FOR MODELING BONE-MARROW RADIATION CELL-KINETICS

Differential equations were used to model cellular injury, repair: and compensatory proliferation in the irradiated bone marrow. Recently, t hat model was implemented as MarCell(TM), a user-friendly MS-DOS compu ter program that allows users from a variety of technical disciplines to evaluate complex radiation exposure. The software allows menu selec tions for different sources of ionizing radiation. Choices for cell li neages include progenitor stroma, and malignant, and the available spe cies include mouse, rat, dog, sheep, swine, burro, and man. An attract ive feature is that any protracted irradiation can be compared with an equivalent prompt dose (EPD) in terms of cell kinetics for either the source used or for a reference such as 250 kVp x rays or Co-60. EPD i s used to mean a dose rate for which no meaningful biological recovery occurs during the period of irradiation. For human as species, output from MarCell(TM) includes: risk of 30-day mortality; risk of whole-bo dy cancer and leukemia based either on radiation-induced cytopenia or compensatory cell proliferation; cell survival and repopulation plots as functions of time or dose; and 4-week recovery following treatment. (C) 1997 American Association of Physicists in Medicine.