Measurement of irradiation doses secondary to bedside radiographs in a medical intensive care unit.
The authors prospectively studied the radiation doses to radio-sensitive organs secondary to bedside radiographs in intensive care patients and in a control phantom. Dosimeters were taped on different organs during each bedside X-ray. The mean radiation doses, expressed in 10(-5) Gy (m-rad), for an "average patient" who was hospitalized 9 days and had 6 chest X-rays were respectively: 292 to the sternal bone marrow; 239 to the thyroid gland; 3 to the testes; 1 to the ovaries; 605 to the eye for 2 maxillary sinus X-rays. No diffused irradiation was measured during a 2-month period in the intensive care unit nor on dosimeters worn by four nurses.
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001853:Bone Marrow / Q000528:radiation effects; D005123:Eye / Q000528:radiation effects; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007362:Intensive Care Units; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008961:Models, Structural; D010053:Ovary / Q000528:radiation effects; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011829:Radiation Dosage; D011834:Radiation Monitoring / Q000295:instrumentation; D011859:Radiography; D013737:Testis / Q000528:radiation effects; D013819:Thermoluminescent Dosimetry; D013961:Thyroid Gland / Q000528:radiation effects