SIZE-SPECIFIC DOSE ESTIMATES IN PEDIATRIC BRAIN CT IN RELATION TO AGE AND WEIGHT

Area of Science:

• Medical Physics
• Radiology
• Pediatric Imaging

Background:

• Size-specific dose estimate (SSDE) offers more accurate patient radiation dose assessment in computed tomography (CT) than volume CT dose index.
• Effective radiation dose management in pediatric CT is crucial due to increased radiosensitivity.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the relationship between SSDE and patient age or weight in pediatric brain CT.
• To develop and validate curve-fitting functions for estimating SSDE in pediatric populations.

Main Methods:

• Analysis of 980 pediatric brain CT scans.
• Fitting monolinear, power, and bilinear functions to SSDE versus age/weight data.
• Validation of estimated SSDE values against median values per group.

Main Results:

• SSDE demonstrated a biphasic increase with both age and weight (rapid initial, then slower increase).
• Bilinear and power functions provided successful fits with minimal estimation errors across age/weight groups.
• Estimated SSDE values using the derived functions closely matched observed median SSDE values.

Conclusions:

• Curve-fitting methods, particularly bilinear and power functions, accurately model SSDE in pediatric brain CT.
• These validated functions can support more precise radiation dose management for pediatric patients undergoing CT scans.
• The findings contribute to optimizing radiation safety in pediatric diagnostic imaging.