Development of Electrometer for Dose Area Product (DAP) Measurement to Monitor Patient Dose in Radiography Examinations

Abstract

This study aimed to develop an electrometer for dose area product (DAP) measurement to monitor patient doses on X-ray radiography examinations. The electrometer was developed based on the Atmega8535 microcontroller as the processing unit. This electrometer was operated at 12 volts of direct current (DC) and controlled by buttons for navigation. The system (i.e. in-house electrometer and DAP meter) was carefully designed so that it can easily perform calibration and dose measurements. The system was evaluated at variations of tube voltage, tube current, and exposure time. The developed system results in high accuracy and precision as indicated by low percent error (PE) and relative standard deviation (RSD) compared to standard system. The highest PE and RSD are 1.69% and 1.42% for tube voltage variation, 3.85% and 3.58% for tube current variations, and 12.10% and 0.92% for exposure time variations. In conclusion, the developed system is feasible to be used as a patient dose measurement tool to meet the needs of radiation protection to achieve the principle of “as low as reasonably achievable (ALARA).