Effective dose for scoliosis patients undergoing full spine radiography

Scoliotic patients underwent many radiological examinations during their control and treatment periods. Nowadays, few studies have calculated effective dose which is the primary indicator of radiation risk. In this study, the PCXMC program is used to calculate the effective doses associated with scoliosis radiography. Five age groups of patients, proposed by the National Radiological Protection Board, have been chosen: <1, 1-4, 5-9, 10-15 and ≥16 y (adult patients). Patient and radiographic data were collected from 99 patient examinations for both anteroposterior and lateral full spine X-ray projections. Results showed the effective dose ranged from 118 to 1596 μSv for the frontal projection and from 97 to 1370 μSv for the lateral projection, with patient age varying from 3 months to 22 y. This study presents the effective dose against patient age and demonstrates the necessity to optimise patient protection for this type of examination.