Study of Common Requested Radiographs and Relative Exposure Dose in Qassim State

Abdulrahman Abdullah Saad Alsayyari

doi:10.11648/j.ijmi.20170502.12

Abstract

The objective of the article was to study the common requested radiographs and relative exposure dose in Qassim state in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The method was retrospective and analytical study for collected variables as radiographs, relative entrance surface dose (ESD) and the effective dose, patient age, gender and causative factors. The analysis with excel software revealed that: the common requested radiographs were skull, abdomen and chest with male incidence as 75%, 72.2% and 64% respectively relative to whole sample. Traffic accident (71%) and fall-down (45%) were the most causative factors among male and female respectively, with injuries as skull fissure fracture (77%) and intracranial hemorrhage (23%). The skull radiographs noted among the age group of 11-21 years and peaking at 36% among the age group of 22-32 years. The requested abdominal radiographs appeared among the age group of 13-21 years; with frequency of (19%) and peaking at 30% among the age group of 22-30 years; with injuries as spleen ruptures (42%) and liver (27%). The chest radiographs observed among age group of 3-13 years; with frequency of 4% and peaking among age groups of 14-24 & 25-35 years old with frequencies of 19% and 21% respectively, and injuries as Ribs fracture (55%), ribs dislocation (15%), pierced lung (20%) hemorrhage (10%). The average ESD for <i>abdomen, skull and the chest radiographs</i> were 1.93±0.8, 1.53±0.6 and 0.21±0.2 mGy which were increase linearly following the aging. And the average effective doses were 0.24±0.1, 0.1±0.1 and 0.4±0.2 mSv respectively.

Highlights

The medical requested examinations are common for routine medical checkup, follow up and in case of emergencies; the rate and the incidence of such examinations influenced by some factors; as the number population, wealth of population, age factor, gender, habits, etc
What is so encourage-able for utilizing x-ray in imaging is the fact stated by ARPANSA [3] that “patient would need to have approximately 38 chest x-rays to receive an amount of radiation similar to that of normal background radiation that everyone receives for one year from the environment”
The third common requested cases were the chest radiographs which have been noted among age group of 3-13 years old with frequency of 4% and peaking among age groups of 14-24 & 25-35 years old with frequency of 19% and 21% respectively the request frequency decreases following aging to an average of 11%, with common injuries as Ribs fracture (55%), ribs dislocation (15%), Pierced lung (20%) hemorrhage (10%)

Summary

Introduction

The medical requested examinations (radiologic or laboratory) are common for routine medical checkup, follow up and in case of emergencies; the rate and the incidence of such examinations influenced by some factors; as the number population, wealth of population, age factor, gender, habits, etc. Kristin and Bjorn, [1] highlighted some additional factors that may influence the rate of requested radiograph out of questionnaire article which were: (a) new radiological technology, (b) peoples' demands, (c) clinicians' intolerance for uncertainty, (d) expanded clinical indications and (e) availability in addition to over investigation and insufficient referral information were reported as the most frequent causes of unnecessary investigations Due to such factors the general request or the frequency of radiography has been roughly doubled and in some countries tripled during the five years preceded 2008 as has been reported by the United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation (UNSCEAR) [2]. Where WT refers to weighting factor for organ or tissue and HT refers to equivalent dose to organ or tissue

Methodology

Discussion & Analysis

Findings

Conclusion