Study of displayed radiation dose and size-specific dose estimate from computed tomography brain examinations in
Anushka Chauhan1, Sugandhi Sharma2, Atul Mishra3
1Department of Radiological and Imaging Techniques, Faculty of Paramedical Sciences, Uttar Pradesh University of Medical Sciences, Etawah 206130, Uttar Pradesh, India.
Background:
This study is based on American Association of Physicist in Medicine (AAPM) task group (TG) report 204 to compare the displayed and calculated Radiation dose imparted to the patient in computed tomography (CT) head examination and the effective dose.
Aim:
To identify whether there is a difference between displayed radiation doses and size-specific dose in CT head imaging. For ruling out the possibility of dose estimation difference.
Methods:
A prospective cross-sectional study was done on CT head examinations using multidetector CT. The study included subjects aged between 18 and 60 years with no obvious morphological head deformities. We compared the size-specific dose estimate (SSDE) displayed and calculated where we used f factor for effective diameter from AAPM report 204 and manually calculated the SSDE for comparison. We also calculated the effective dose for head CT manually using dose-length product and k value from AAPM report 96.
Results:
The difference between SSDE Calculated and displayed was found to be -11.99%, the negative value depicts that the SSDE displayed in the patient dose chart in CT is much lower than the calculated SSDE. Hence it highly underestimates the dose received by the patient and further cancer risk estimation. We also found that the radiation dose received by patient is inversely related to the effective diameter of their head.
Conclusion:
The observed difference between the calculated and displayed dose values falls within the acceptable range of 10%-20% as recommended by the AAPM TG report 204, indicating consistency with established guidelines.
Related Concept Videos
01:10Computed Tomography
The technique was invented in the 1970s and is based on the principle that as X-rays pass through the body, they are absorbed or reflected at different levels. In the technique, a patient lies on a motorized platform while a computerized axial tomography (CAT) scanner rotates...
01:14Brain Imaging
These technologies include computerized axial tomography (CAT or CT scans), positron-emission tomography (PET scans), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), and Transcranial Magnetic...
01:14Imaging Studies I: CT and MRI
Description of the Procedures
Computed Tomography (CT) scan:
Computed Tomography (CT) scans use X-ray technology to generate detailed images of bones, organs, and tissues. During the scan, the patient lies on a moving table...
01:27Imaging Studies III: Computed Tomography
01:25Imaging Studies II: Positron Emission Tomography and Scintigraphy
Fundamental Principles of PET