Keywords:
Dosimetric comparison, Radiation safety, Dosimetry, PACS, Digital radiography, Conventional radiography, Radioprotection / Radiation dose, Radiographers, Paediatric
Authors:
C. J. O Flynn, G. O Neill, K. Matthews; Dublin/IE
DOI:
10.26044/ecr2019/C-3649
Conclusion
The current study has collected and analysed DAP data from 12 Irish hospitals which x-ray children.
Undoubtedly,
considerable DAP dose variations exist between hospitals.
This highlights the value of DRLs in revealing comparisons that if scrutinised,
could lead to greater otimisation across sites which return higher doses during this tye of audit.
The definitive conclusions of the current study are:
- NIMIS,
a centralised database,
can be used to generate age specific national DRL data for paediatric examinations which are performed with sufficient frequency.
-
75th centile values of median DAP distributions are proposed as national DRLs for chest,
abdomen,
pelvis,
and some age groups of cervical spine and lumbar spine projections.
-
The proposed DRL values set at the 75th centile value of median dose distributions provides a good basis for further development of paediatric DRL values in Ireland.
-
Median DAP doses vary between hospitals,
with first to third quartile ratios between 1.38 and 2.93 provoking consideration of optimisation strategies.
-
Higher beam filtration of 3.2mm Al equivalent and utilising 0.1mm additional copper filtration is associated with 81% of the lowest median DAP doses and provokes consideration of the beam filtration applied in paediatric radiography as an optimisation tool.
-
Hospitals with lower paediatric caseload may need to consider local initiatives to improve the optimisation of paediatric examinations.
Recommendations
- There is potential to record child height and weight for paediatric examinations in NIMIS,
and if explored NIMIS could become a resource for weight based DRL generation..