Evaluation of effective dose and entrance skin dose in digital radiology

Background: Ionizing radiation has an indispensable role in diagnostic radiology and clinical treatments. Apparently, medical exposure in diagnostic radiology pertains to be the preeminent man-made source of radiation.

Objective: The aim of the present scientific study is to calculate the Entrance Surface Dose (ESD) and Effective Dose (ED) in digital radiography in Mazandaran province.

Materials and methods: The study was performed on 3600 patients in digital X-ray rooms 15 hospitals and the required data were collected from two age groups (10>15 years and adults) in each projection. Based on the results of this study, ESD and ED were calculated for skull (PA), skull (lateral), cervical spine (AP), cervical spine (lateral), chest (PA), chest (lateral), abdomen (AP), lumbar spine (AP), lumbar spine (lateral), pelvis (AP), thoracic spine (AP) and thoracic spine (lateral) examinations. It was calculated using PCXMC software (version 2.0).

Results: In this study, mean ESDs for the 10-15 year group varied from 0.97±0.21 mGy to 3.62±1.38 mGy for chest (PA) and lumbar spine (lateral), respectively. For the adult group varied from 1.05±0.31 to 3.85±1.44 for cervical spine (AP) and lumbar spine (lateral), respectively. And also ED value was from in the range of 10.40 µSv to 378.46 µSv for skull (PA) 10-15 year group and abdomen adults, respectively

Conclusion: This survey revealed a significant variation in the radiation dose of digital radiology examinations among hospitals in Mazandaran province. Application of a dose reference level (DRL) could be an optimization procedure for reducing the patient’s dose in Mazandaran province.