The establishment of local diagnostic reference levels for pediatric CT

Abstract

Introduction Computed tomography (CT delivers more than a half of collective effective dose received at medical diagnostic procedures. It is recommended that routine procedures have diagnostic reference levels (DRLs) set and kept up-to-date, especially for pediatric examinations. Purpose The main objective of this study is to analyse dose trends in 2010–2014, identify future optimisation targets and set local DRLs for most common pediatric CT examinations. Materials and methods A retrospective study of pediatric ( Results 2042 examinations were analysed, most of them (57.9%) head CT scans. Head dose decreased in all age groups from 2,9 to 1,6 mSv. In 2014 the mean DLP for head was 267, 293, 313 and 371 mGy∗ cm for patients aged 0–1, 1–5, 5–10 and 10–18 years respectively; the mean DLP for chest was 74, 199 and 303 mGy∗ cm for patients aged 1–5, 5–10 and 10–18 years; the mean DLP for pelvis was 69, 91, 159 and 284 mGy∗ cm for patients aged 0–1, 1–5, 5–10 and 10–18 years. The local DRLs for head, chest and pelvis CT were set. Conclusion For CT procedures the comparison between local DRLs and the national DRLs shows that doses don’t exceed the recommended levels. While CT dose decreases, it is important to ensure that examinations are performed at optimised state. Disclosure None.