title: Effectiveness of protective patient equipment for CT: an anthropomorphic phantom study.
abstract: Protective patient equipment for CT examinations is not routinely provided. The aim of this study was to determine whether, and if so what, specific protective equipment is beneficial during CT scans. The absorbed organ doses and the effective doses for thorax, abdomen/pelvis and brain CT investigation with and without the use of protective patient equipment have been determined and compared. All measurements were carried out on modern multislice CT scanner using an anthropomorphic phantom and thermoluminescence dosemeters. The measurements show that protective equipment reduces the dose within the scattered beam area. The highest organ dose reduction was found in organs that protrude from the trunk like the testes or the female breasts that can largely be covered by the protective equipment. The most reduction of the effective dose was found in the male abdomen/pelvis examination (0.32 mSv), followed by the brain (0.11 mSv) and the thorax (0.06 mSv). It is concluded that the use of protective equipment can reduce the applied dose to the patient.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiooncology, Division of Medical Radiation Physics, University Hospital of Berne, CH-3010 Bern, Switzerland. barbara.ott@gmail.com
authors.forename: Barbara
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Ott
authors.forename: Anja
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Stüssi
authors.forename: Roberto
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Mini
mesh_terms: D003198:Computer Simulation; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008953:Models, Anatomic; D008954:Models, Biological; D009010:Monte Carlo Method; D019047:Phantoms, Imaging; D011829:Radiation Dosage; D011835:Radiation Protection / Q000295:instrumentation*; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed; D014915:Whole-Body Counting / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards