title: Radiation dose to premature new-borns in the Belgian neonatal intensive care units.
abstract: In the neonatal intensive care units (NICU), premature new-borns may be exposed to important doses. Because of their increased radiosensitivity and longer life expectancy, dose optimisation is of importance. The present study aimed at evaluating the dose of the most common radiographs in the Belgian NICU. Entrance surface kerma (ESK) and kerma area product (KAP) were collected in 17 NICU (among 19 in Belgium). Median ESK ranged from 13 to 172 µGy and from 8 to 117 µGy for chest and combined chest-abdomen radiographs, respectively; median KAP ranged from 1.4 to 14.2 mGy cm(2) and from 3.8 to 28.1 mGy cm(2) for chest and combined chest-abdomen radiographs, respectively. Those differences were due to large variations in the examination settings. Diagnostic reference levels (DRL) were set for chest and combined chest-abdomen radiographs. Though the radiograph dose was usually low, the cumulative dose per stay could be high. The wide, intercentre differences indicate that there is scope for dose reduction. The use of DRL should contribute to achieve this object.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiation protection, Dosimetry and Calibration, Belgian Nuclear Research Centre, 200 Boeretang, Mol 2400, Belgium.
authors.forename: Jérémie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Dabin
authors.forename: Lara
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Struelens
authors.forename: Filip
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Vanhavere
mesh_terms: D001530:Belgium; D001822:Body Burden; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007234:Infant, Premature; D007363:Intensive Care Units, Neonatal; D011829:Radiation Dosage; D013902:Radiography, Thoracic; D018570:Risk Assessment