Paediatric dose measurement in a full-body digital radiography unit.
BACKGROUND
Ionizing radiation has a detrimental effect on the human body, particularly in children. Thus it is important to minimize the dose. Linear slit-scanning X-ray units offer the possibility of dose reductions. In order to further develop linear slit-scanning radiography, the dose needs to be accurately calculated for various examinations.


OBJECTIVE
To measure the entrance dose (free-in-air) and calculate the effective doses for various radiological examinations in children on Lodox Statscan and Shimadzu radiography units.


METHODS
Entrance doses (free-in-air) were measured using a dose meter and ionization chamber on the Statscan and Shimadzu units at two South African hospitals. The entrance doses were measured for a number of common examinations and were used to compute the effective dose using a Monte Carlo program.


RESULTS
The standard deviation of the entrance doses was in the range 0-0.6%. The effective dose from the Statscan unit was well below that from the Shimadzu unit as well as that found in other radiological studies from around the world in children. The one exception was chest examination where the dose was similar to that in other studies worldwide due to the use of Chest AP projection compared to Chest PA used in the comparative studies.


CONCLUSIONS
Linear slit-scanning systems help reduce the dose in radiological examinations in children.
Maree
Gert Johannes
GJ
Division of Medical Physics, Groote Schuur Hospital & University of Cape Town, Observatory, Cape Town 7925, South Africa.
Irving
Benjamin John
BJ
Hering
Egbert Raymond
ER
D001822:Body Burden; D002648:Child; D004867:Equipment Design; D019544:Equipment Failure Analysis; D006801:Humans; D011835:Radiation Protection / Q000379:methods*; D011856:Radiographic Image Enhancement / Q000295:instrumentation*; D012062:Relative Biological Effectiveness; D018570:Risk Assessment / Q000379:methods*; D012307:Risk Factors; D051598:Whole Body Imaging / Q000295:instrumentation*; D014915:Whole-Body Counting