Comparative analysis of effective doses to patients undergoing examination on general-purpose X-ray machines, calculated by various methods

Abstract

Purpose. Comparative evaluation of effective doses to patients calculated using various methods for the most common X-ray examinations performed on general-purpose digital X-ray machines. Materials and methods. Data collection on parameters of examinations was performed for seven digital X-ray machines located in several Moscow medical facilities. Parameters for the most common X-ray examinations were collected for 120 standard patients from October to December 2019. Results. For all X-ray machines, significant reliable discrepancies were revealed between effective doses from the protocols of accredited laboratories (calculated based on radiation output) and effective doses determined by the authors based on the collected values of the dose-area product. The differences, on average, did not exceed ± 100%. However, the discrepancies for the thoracic spine and chest X-ray on some devices were even more significant. Limitations. Lack of a unified, standardised methodology for collecting parameters of radiological studies. Conclusion. The parameters of standard X-ray studies, collected by accredited laboratories and presented in the current methodological guidelines for monitoring patients’ effective doses, significantly differ from the studies’ parameters obtained from our data collection results. The existing methods for calculating effective doses require to be updated and revised. It makes sense to give up using transition coefficients and specialised software that calculates the effective dose, taking into account the geometry of patients’ exposure and physical and technical parameters of the study.