title: Radiation dose to neonates undergoing X-ray imaging in special care baby units in Iran.
abstract: Radiographic imaging has a significant role in the timely diagnosis of the diseases of neonates in intensive care units. The estimation of the dose received by the infants undergoing radiographic examination is of great importance, due to greater more radiosensitivity and longer life expectancy of the neonates and premature babies. In this study, the values of entrance skin dose (ESD), dose area products (DAPs), energy imparted (EI), whole-body dose, effective dose and risk of childhood cancer were estimated using three methods including direct method [using thermoluminescence dosimetry (TLD) chips], indirect method (using tube output) and Monte Carlo (MC) method (using MCNP4C code). In the first step, the ESD of the neonates was directly measured using TLD-100 chips. Fifty neonates, mostly premature, with different weights and gestational ages in five hospitals mostly suffering from respiratory distress syndrome and pneumonia were involved in this study. In the second step, the values of ESD to neonates were indirectly obtained from the tube output in different imaging techniques. The imaging room, incubator, neonates and other components were then simulated in order to obtain the ESD values using the MCNP4C code. Finally, the values of ESD assessed by the three methods were used for calculation of DAP, EI, whole-body dose, effective dose and risk of childhood cancer. The results indicate that the mean ESD per radiograph estimated by the direct, indirect and MC methods are 56.6±4.1, 50.1±3.1 and 54.5±3.3 μGy, respectively. The mean risk of childhood cancer estimated in this study varied between 4.21×10(-7) and 2.72×10(-6).
authors: Radiation Research Center, School of Mechanical Engineering, Shiraz University, Mollasadra Street, Shiraz, Iran. faghihir@shirazu.ac.ir
authors: Reza
authors: R
authors: Faghihi
authors: Simin
authors: S
authors: Mehdizadeh
authors: Sedigheh
authors: S
authors: Sina
authors: Fatemeh N
authors: FN
authors: Alizadeh
authors: Banafsheh
authors: B
authors: Zeinali
authors: Gholam Reza
authors: GR
authors: Kamyab
authors: Sadaf
authors: S
authors: Aghevlian
authors: Hossein
authors: H
authors: Khorramdel
authors: Imen
authors: I
authors: Namazi
authors: Mandana
authors: M
authors: Heirani
authors: Meisam
authors: M
authors: Moshkriz
authors: Hojjat
authors: H
authors: Mahani
authors: Mohsen
authors: M
authors: Sharifzadeh
mesh_terms: D001822:Body Burden; D003198:Computer Simulation; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015931:Intensive Care, Neonatal / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D007492:Iran / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008954:Models, Biological; D015233:Models, Statistical; D011829:Radiation Dosage; D011859:Radiography / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D014915:Whole-Body Counting / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*