Keywords:
Radiation physics, Computer applications, Radioprotection / Radiation dose, Digital radiography, Conventional radiography, CT, Dosimetry, Physics, Computer Applications-3D, Dosimetric comparison
Authors:
A. S. L. Dedulle, N. Fitousi, Z. Zeppelin, V. Petit, G. Zhang, J. Jacobs, H. Bosmans; Leuven/BE
DOI:
10.1594/ecr2018/C-2349
Conclusion
The body size,
in terms of BMI or WED,
has an influence on the dose conversion factors of a conventional chest PA examination for the organs in the field of view,
except for the thyroid.
Other studies found similar results regarding the influence of the BMI or weight [6-8].
Using the automatic exposure control (AEC) during a radiological examination will increase the exposure of overweight patients to maintain sufficient image quality.
However our study showed that the organ dose conversion factors decrease with increasing patient size.
This will result in a decreasing general conversion factor with increasing patient size: the radiation detriment of obese patients is lower than initially expected if only one,
size independent,
conversion factor would be used.
This stimulates the interest for patient-specific (organ) dose calculations in general radiography and should be considered in patient specific reports of medical radiological procedures.