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Dose-length product of scanners correlates with DNA damage in patients undergoing contrast CT
Laurence Beels1, Klaus Bacher, Peter Smeets
1Department of Basic Medical Sciences, Ghent University, Proeftuinstraat 86, 9000 Gent, Belgium. Laurence.Beels@UGent.be
Objectives:
Computed tomography (CT) exams contribute for a large part to the population's radiation burden. This study addresses the question if dose settings of scanners expressed by dose-length product (DLP) are correlated with directly measurable biological effects in patients.
Methods:
DLP, blood dose, effective dose and DNA damage were analyzed for patients undergoing a thoracic or abdominal contrast CT scan on two CT scanners with different dose settings. The DNA damage was assessed by scoring γ-H2AX foci representing DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) in patient's lymphocytes. Blood dose was calculated using the ImPACT software.
Results:
The CT system operating at higher dose settings represented by higher DLP values, resulted in a significantly higher number of radiation-induced γ-H2AX foci in patient's lymphocytes (DLP: 2.1 times higher; γ-H2AX foci: 2.3 times higher; p<0.05). Plotting γ-H2AX foci versus blood dose showed a systematic increase of DNA damage with dose. In vitro experiments ruled out a possible X-ray enhancement of DNA damage effect by contrast agent.
Conclusions:
Present study demonstrates that optimization of DLP setting of scanners results in a reduction of X-ray effects in patients.
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