Estimation of Radiation Dose from Most Common Pediatrics Radiographic Examinations within Main Central Hospitals in Najaf City, Iraq

Raed Mohammed Kadhim M Ali,Hussien Abid Ali Bakir Mraity

doi:10.21123/bsj.2022.19.3.0654

Abstract

In this study the Entrance Surface Dose (ESD) received by pediatrics patients undergoing chest, abdomen and skull X-ray examinations was estimated. The study was conducted in two hospitals in Najaf city where three radiographic systems were considered. The study participants were classified into four age groups 0-1 , 1-5 , 5-10 and 10-15 years. Calculations were performed using exposure factors, kVp, mAs and focal-skin distance, together with patient data age. The ESD was calculated for the involved patients who underwent an Antero-posterior (AP) chest, abdomen and skull X-ray examination. The resulted data were analyzed and compared with international dose references. For all studied radiographic examinations and all X-ray machines, the ESD increases with age. The lowest recorded radiation dose was from hospital 1 machine 2. In this facility ESD ranged from 19.93 µGy to 67.66 µGy for chest X-ray, from 39.03 µGy to 82.63 µGy for abdomen (AP), and from 35.47 µGy to 94.27 µGy for skull (AP). In contrast the highest dose levels are recorded from hospital 2 machine 1; the minimum ESD for chest X-ray is 247.51 µGy and the maximum is 2393.12 µGy; for abdomen X-ray the lowest ESD is 269.05 µGy and the highest value is 5106.15 µGy; and for skull X-ray minimum values is 430.96 µGy and the maximum value is 3072.77 µGy. In conclusion, for the considered pediatrics examinations, most of ESD values are within the international acceptable level and some are higher >100% .

Highlights

Since the discovery of X-ray by WilliamRoentgen in 1895, medical imaging has become an indispensable mean for patient care 1
The distribution and mean values of entrance surface dose for each pediatrics age group are presented in Tabs.[1,2,3]
The Entrance Surface Dose (ESD) of the corresponding X-ray examination ranged from 27.78 to 402.04 μGy across the same ages. These calculated ESD were within the internationally acceptable range recommended by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) for 0-1 and [1,2,3,4,5] years age groups but they were more than the acceptable level for the other two age groups

Summary

Introduction

Since the discovery of X-ray by WilliamRoentgen in 1895, medical imaging has become an indispensable mean for patient care 1. The biggest late adverse effect of radiation is cancer incidence especially in pediatric patients 2. It has been found that the risk of radiation induced cancer in children under age of 10 years increase by 15% per which may be associated with possibility of acquiring patient overdose due to the built-in image processing [9, 10]. Many factors can result in undesirable radiation exposure effects. These factors include: clinical case complexity, type of radiologic procedure, operator’s skill, characteristic of X-ray machine whether it is designed for pediatric or for adult patients, number of required radiographic images and imaging parameters (kV and mAs) 10

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion