Abstract
The American College of Radiology opened the computed tomography (CT) dose index registry (DIR) for general participation by all facilities in 2011. For each CT examination, data on volume CT dose index (CTDIvol), dose-length product (DLP), and, for body examinations, size-specific dose estimate (SSDE) were collected. However, effective dose is not estimated in DIR. The primary objective of this study was to estimate k-factor profile in detail at various scan positions with modified the ImPACT CT patient dosimetry. A tool that easily estimates the k-factor of suitable scan areas is essential for practical dose estimation in the DIR. We evaluated k-factor (effective dose/ DLP) profiles between a medical international radiation dose-five (MIRD-5) phantom positions using aImPACT software. As a result of this study, practicality of the k-factor profile method in clinical use was clarified. We speculate that a flexible k-factor improves the appropriateness of the E in hospital settings.
Highlights
The American College of Radiology (ACR) opened the computed tomography (CT) dose index registry (DIR) for general participation by all facilities in May 2011 [1]
The ImPACT software, which was released by the Imaging Performance Assessment of CT scanners (ImPACT) group of the Scanner Evaluation Center of the United Kingdom National Health Service (NHS), adopted the Monte-Carlo dose datasets simulated by the National Radiological Protection Board (NRPB) as NRPB-SR250 [8] [9]
The E profile and k-factorImPACT profile showed almost identical trends, but the latter was influenced by the dose-length product (DLP)
Summary
The American College of Radiology (ACR) opened the computed tomography (CT) dose index registry (DIR) for general participation by all facilities in May 2011 [1]. The registry has more than 750 registered facilities, 465 of which were actively contributing data at the end of August 2013 [1]. In a 2008 report by the United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation (UNSCEAR) [5], the contribution of CT examination to the total collective E due to diagnostic medical examinations is approximately 47% in the health-care level 1 countries. E should be estimated to provide facilities a tool to allow them to compare their dose index with diagnostic reference levels (DRLs) [4]
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