Evaluation of Pediatric Radiation Doses during Chest, Abdomen, and Babygram X-ray Examination Using GATE Code

One of the main concerns of radiography procedures is to produce diagnostic image quality with dose reduction, specifically for pediatric patients. In the present study, Monte Carlo simulations using GATE (Geant Application for Tomography Emission) code, coupled with a 7-wk-old voxel female baby model from the GSF (German Research Center for Environment Health) were performed to investigate how dose in digital chest, abdomen, and both chest and abdomen (babygram) x-ray examinations vary with tube voltage (40-60 keV) at a fixed value of current-time product (4 mAs) using different collimation and a digital radiography system. Organ dose (mGy) and effective doses (mSv) of three routine digital radiography examinations, namely anterior-posterior (AP) chest, anterior-posterior (AP) abdomen, and anterior-posterior (AP) chest-abdomen, were estimated using the Monte Carlo simulation method, GATE code. Organ doses ranged from 0.01 to a maximum of 2.5 mGy, while effective doses ranged from 0.01 to 0.3 mSv. The results of the present paper show that the organ doses and effective doses for chest, abdomen, and babygram x ray with digital radiography highlight no change, while increasing voltage and values obtained are still very low compared to similar references.