title: Radiation dose to premature infants in neonatal intensive care units in Kuwait.
abstract: Entrance surface dose (ESD) and effective dose (E) to premature infants were estimated at three neonatal intensive care units in Kuwait for three standard X-ray examinations--abdominal, chest and skull X rays using a simple water phantom. The ESD was found to vary between 58 and 102 microGy for abdominal X rays, between 51 and 102 microGy for chest X rays and between 58 and 145 microGy for skull examinations. These doses are comparable to the entrance skin doses published elsewhere. The E-values were estimated using normalised organ dose dataset from the National Radiological Protection Board. The E-values for abdominal, chest and skull examinations were in the ranges of 30-46, 20-36 and 8-18 microSv per examination, respectively. The risk of developing childhood cancers from each of the three examinations was estimated to be in the range (9-117) x 10(-6) for infants undergoing 25 of these X-ray examinations during their stay in the NIC unit.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiologic Sciences, Kuwait University, PO Box 31470, Sulaibikhat 90805, Kuwait. ajit@hsc.kuniv.edu.kw
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Brindhaban
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Al-Khalifah
mesh_terms: D001822:Body Burden; D003198:Computer Simulation; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007234:Infant, Premature; D015931:Intensive Care, Neonatal / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D007730:Kuwait / Q000453:epidemiology; D008954:Models, Biological; D011829:Radiation Dosage; D011835:Radiation Protection / Q000379:methods*; D011859:Radiography / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011860:Radiography, Abdominal / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D013902:Radiography, Thoracic / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011874:Radiometry / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D012062:Relative Biological Effectiveness; D018570:Risk Assessment / Q000379:methods*; D012307:Risk Factors; D012886:Skull / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging