Proposed dose reference levels in radiography procedures in sudan

Abstract

Introduction ICRP introduced the term “diagnostic reference level (DRL)” as a tool of optimization to help avoid radiation dose to the patient that does not contribute to the clinical purpose of a medical imaging task. Purpose The purpose of this study was to measure patient radiation dose during the most common seven performed conventional diagnostic procedures and to propose DRLs values for these exams in Sudan. Materials and methods Third quartile values of the distributions of mean Entrance Skin Air Kerma (ESAK) observed for the most common radiography examination were proposed as DRL values in Sudan .Representative sample of patients “at least 10 patient in each exam” from 30 governmental and private hospitals distributed over the country were included. ESAK was calculated by measuring the X-ray tube output and the corresponding technical and exposure factors for each patient. Results Proposed DRLs in mGy were settled to be 0.63 for chest PA, 2.3 for skull PA, 1.61 for skull LAT, 4.0 for abdomen, 2.59 for Lumber Spine AP and 10.8 for Lumber Spine lateral. Conclusion This result considered to be the first proposed DRL for general radiography procedures in Sudan. Disclosure Authors confirm No any relationship bias their presentation.