NATIONAL DIAGNOSTIC REFERENCE LEVELS AND ACHIEVABLE DOSES FOR STANDARD CT EXAMINATIONS IN SUDAN

Area of Science:

• Medical Imaging Physics
• Radiological Protection
• Public Health

Background:

• Computed tomography (CT) utilization is increasing globally.
• Establishing national diagnostic reference levels (NDRLs) and achievable doses (ADs) is essential for radiation protection.
• Sudan currently lacks established national benchmarks for CT radiation doses.

Purpose of the Study:

• To determine radiation doses from CT examinations in Sudan.
• To propose national diagnostic reference levels (NDRLs) and achievable doses (ADs) for CT.
• To provide a basis for dose optimization and patient protection in Sudanese radiology departments.

Main Methods:

• Retrospective analysis of 1336 adult CT examinations from 14 Sudanese hospitals.
• Dose estimation using CT Expo 2.5 software.
• Calculation of ADs and NDRLs based on the 50th and 75th percentiles of hospital median dose distributions, respectively.

Main Results:

• Proposed achievable doses (ADs) for CTDIvol (mGy) ranged from 10 (chest) to 64 (head).
• Proposed ADs for dose-length product (DLP; mGy.cm) ranged from 366 (chest) to 1225 (head).
• Proposed national diagnostic reference levels (NDRLs) for CTDIvol (mGy) ranged from 15 (KUB) to 79 (head), and for DLP (mGy.cm) from 690 (chest) to 1490 (head).

Conclusions:

• Current CT radiation doses in Sudan fall within the higher end of reported international literature values.
• The proposed ADs and NDRLs are vital for enhancing patient protection.
• Implementation of these benchmarks is recommended for dose optimization in CT practices across Sudan.