Current Radiographic Practices and Radiation Dose Evaluation
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.37506/ijphrd.v11i7.10078Keywords:
Radiation dose, Chest X-ray, Kerma area product, entrance surface air kerma, effective dose, digital radiography, diagnostic reference levels.Abstract
To investigate the current radiographic practices in a public tertiary care teaching hospital in digital
radiography set-up, the study aimed to calculate the entrance surface air kerma (ESAK), kerma area product
(PKA), and effective doses in chest PA, and AP digital radiographic examinations. Chest radiography is
the most common examination performed worldwide. Due to the frequency of these examinations, its
contribution to the collective dose is considerable. Also, various international authorities have recommended
guidelines for local dose surveys for radiation protection and optimization. IAEA recommended protocol
was used to calculate the patient doses. The 3rd quartile values of ESAK and PKA obtained are 0.17 mGy
and 0.27 Gycm2 for chest PA; 0.38mGy and 0.21 Gycm2 for chest AP. The estimated mean effective doses
are 0.017 (ED from ESAK), 0.037 (ED from PKA) for chest PA and 0.041 (ED from ESAK), 0.028 (ED
from PKA) for chest AP. The results obtained are compared with ESAK, PKA, and effective dose values
of previously published literature. The estimated doses could be used as a baselines value for setting up
of future local diagnostic reference levels (LDRLs) and for optimization of patient doses in diagnostic
radiology.
