Evaluation of patients radiation dose from x-ray examinations in a neonatal intensive care unit

Congress:

EuroSafe Imaging 2019

Poster Number:

ESI-0087

Type:

EuroSafe Imaging

Keywords:

Radioprotection / Radiation dose, Radiation physics, Paediatric, Action 5 - Performance indicators for radiation protection management, Action 4 - Dose management systems, Action 2 - Clinical diagnostic reference levels (DRLs), Digital radiography, Diagnostic procedure, Dosimetric comparison

Authors:

C. Polito, V. Cannatà, L. Di Chiara, B. Cassano, T. Insero, P. Toma, A. Magistrelli, M. Longo, E. Genovese

DOI:

10.26044/esi2019/ESI-0087

DOI-Link:

https://dx.doi.org/10.26044/esi2019/ESI-0087

Fig. 1: Box plot of the DAP per weight class for chest examinations.

Table 1: Overview of the DAP values published in the last 17 years.

Table 2: Overview of the effective dose values of this study and values of other studies.

Fig. 2: Relationship between effective dose and DAP values foe weight classes 1 and 2.

Background/introduction

Radiographic examinations are crucial to the diagnosis and management of young patients admitted to an intensive care unit. Due to the high radiosensitivity of infant’s tissues and their long life expectancy (compared to the one of adult patients), the chances to develop late effects induced by radiations increase [1]. This means that the examinations they undergo must be strongly justified in that they provide benefits, outweighing the risks. The performance of equipment and radiographic techniques used for imaging of infants will influence the radiation dose...

Description of activity and work performed

This study has been conducted over a period of 2 months in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit of Bambino Gesù Children Hospital. As suggested by European Guidelines on DRLs for Paediatric Imaging [2], patients have been grouping in different weight classes (class 1 includes newborn having a weight < 5 Kg, class 2 applies to infants with weight varying from 5 Kg to 15 Kg). The study has involved 135 infants (92 in class 1 and 43 in class 2) undergoing chest X-ray examinations. In...

Conclusion and recommendations

This study allows to define and analyze the X-ray dose released to pediatric patients undergoing chest examinations. Monte Carlo simulations (performed by PCXMC code) have been used in conjunction with DAP measurements in order to estimate both the organ and the effective doses for each examination. The obtained data are in agreement with literature values. The linear correlation between DAP and effective dose has been confirmed and it represents an important tool to directly calculate effective dose from DAP for each patient. Nowadays, the recommended...

Personal/organisational information

Dr Claudia Polito, Ph.D. Medical Physics Unit, IRCCS Bambino GesùChildren Hospital P.zza S. Onofrio, 4 - 00165 Rome, Italy Tel.:+3906 68594453 GSM :+39 3341783778 e-mail:[email protected]

References

[1] International Commission on Radiological Protection. Reference Man: Anatomical, Physiological and Metabolic Characteristics, ICRP Publication 23 (1975). [2] European Guidelines on Diagnostic Reference Levels for Paediatric Imaging, Radiation Protection n° 185, ISSN 2315-2826 (2018) [3]https://www.stuk.fi/palvelut/pcxmc-a-monte-carlo-program-for-calculating-patient-doses-in-medical-x-ray-examinations [4] International Commission on Radiological Protection. The 2007 Recommendations of the International Commission on Radiological Protection, ICRP Publication 103 (2007). [5] Dabin J. et al.,Radiation dose to premature new-borns in the Belgian neonatal intensive care units, Radiation Protection Dosimetry (2014), Vol. 158, No. 1, pp. 28–35. [6] Armpilia C. et...