Discrepancy between absorbed dose estimated from phantom measurements and from estimates using data on individual head sizes in head CT examinations

Abstract

Patient doses during computed tomography (CT) scanning are relative high, as compared with doses received by patients during conventional X-ray examinations. Owing to this, every possible optimisation of CT examinations is of importance. Dose estimation in CT examinations of patients are normally based on measurements of CT dose index and dose length products in standardised CT phantoms, representing a standard person of 70 kg. Real patients may differ significantly from this standard, and hence the dose values calculated for a phantom are not relevant for the individual patient. In this investigation, the effective dose for 31 patients undergoing a CT examination of their head has been evaluated using measurements on a standard CT head phantom and the data corrected for the real size (perimeter) and exposed volume of the patient's head. It is shown that the actual doses to patients were higher in 50 % cases of all performed head CT examinations, compared with doses estimated from phantom measurements. A dose calculation model for head CT patients based on the individual patient's head size (perimeter) and exposed head volume is proposed and the possibility to optimise head CT examinations of patients is discussed.