Assessment of patients X-ray doses at three government hospitals in Duhok city lacking requirements of effective quality control

Abstract

PurposeThe research presented in this article aimed at evaluating patient doses including entrance surface dose (ESD) and effective dose (E) in government hospitals that lack the requirements of quality control standards. Materials and methodsThree major government hospitals with 409 patients in Duhok were involved in the study. The X-ray diagnostics included five routine radiographic examinations. ESD was determined indirectly by measuring the entrance surface air kerma with a solid state dosimeter. E was calculated from the tissue weighting factor and the equivalent dose. Results and conclusions: Significant variations between exposure factors recorded in this study and those recommended in the context of quality criteria and standards were shown. The results have also shown that about twenty percent of the patient doses (ESD and E) were equal or below the recommended values of the diagnostic reference levels (DRLs). For abdomen, pelvis and skull examinations, the ESD values were slightly above the diagnostic reference levels. For chest and cervical the ESD values were much higher than diagnostic reference levels. These values were more reasonable only in one hospital. High ESD values can be attributed to the slightly higher tube voltages and lower mAs values that were used. The high patient dose values suggest that any adequate change of the exposure parameters that aims at the reduction of dose must be done without compromising the image quality. This study recommends a quick action toward implementing a quality control program and employing special staff of medical physicists in the evaluated hospitals.