Background/introduction
The use of computer-tomography (CT) in diagnosticimaging has increased over the last decades [1]. Much effort has been made in order to improve the radiation safety for the patients, especially for the paediatric ones, during the CT examinations [2].
The aim of this study is to evaluate the typical patient doses and the image quality for children for different types of CTexaminations and to explore whether an optimization of the radiation protection is possible.
The investigation is made on a 320-slice CT system (Fig. 1)....
Description of activity and work performed
The data presented in Table 1 is collected between 2015 and 2019. The total number of the paediatric patients is 56 (45 % girls and 55 % boys).
The analyses show variations for the median CTDIvol and DLP values per procedure and standard deviation in parentheses between the age groups during the different types of CT examinations performed (Table 1).
The CTDIvol and DLP values are slightly increasing with increasing the age of the patient for the CT thorax, head and cardiac examinations. This is...
Conclusion and recommendations
There are differences in the typical patient doses for the different CT examinations performed. The variations in the mean patient doses are mostly due to their complexity and the individual characteristics of every paediatric patient. The dose and the image quality are strongly influenced by the technical parameters selected, based on clinical indication of the CT examination [3]. Despite of the low patient doses and the fully acceptable image quality, there is an additional potential for optimization and reduction of the radiation dose.
The proposed...
Personal/organisational information
D. P. Ivanova; Sofia/BG - Author at University Hospital "Saint Ekaterina" M. Nedevska; Sofia/BG - nothing to disclose D. Kostova-Lefterova; Sofia/BG - nothing to disclose V. V. Groudeva; Sofia/BG - nothing to disclose
References
[1] Brenner DJ, Hall EJ, "Computed Tomography - An Increasing Source of Radiation Exposure", N Engl J Med 2007; 357:2277-84;
[2] Slovis TL, "The ALARA concept in Paediatric CT: Myth or Reality?", Paediatric Radiology 2002, 32:217-218;
[3] D. Kostova-Lefterova, "Parameter factors influence on patient dose and image quality in paediatric CT", Roentgenologia, Radiologia 2016, LV:96-104.