Influence of organs in the ICRP's remainder on effective dose equivalent computed for diagnostic radiation exposures

The ICRP effective dose equivalent has been compared with a weighted dose equivalent, computed by treating the entire remainder instead of the sample of five remainder organs in the ICRP method as uniformly radiosensitive, for dose distributions from three common diagnostic exposures: chest, dental full-mouth and dental panoramic. Complete dose distributions were computed by a Monte Carlo model. In all three cases the effective dose equivalent was greater than the weighted dose equivalent. The difference was only 20% for the chest exam but was more than fivefold for both dental exposures. Dose distributions for the dental exposures were less homogeneous than for the chest examination. Selection of organs to be included in the remainder markedly affects the effective dose equivalent. In the case of highly inhomogeneous dose distributions, the effective dose equivalent probably significantly over-estimates radiation detriment.