title: Effective radiation exposure evaluation during a one year follow-up of urolithiasis patients after extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  To determine and evaluate the effective radiation exposure during a one year follow-up of urolithiasis patients following the SWL (extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy) treatment.
  
  
  METHODS
  Total Effective Radiation Exposure (ERE) doses for each of the 129 patients: 44 kidney stone patients, 41 ureter stone patients, and 44 multiple stone location patients were calculated by adding up the radiation doses of each ionizing radiation session including images (IVU, KUB, CT) throughout a one year follow-up period following the SWL.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Total mean ERE values for the kidney stone group was calculated as 15, 91 mSv (5.10-27.60), for the ureter group as 13.32 mSv (5.10-24.70), and in the multiple stone location group as 27.02 mSv (9.41-54.85). There was no statistically significant differences between the kidney and ureter groups in terms of the ERE dose values (p = 0.221) (p >0.05). In the comparison of the kidney and ureter stone groups with the multiple stone location group; however, there was a statistically significant difference (p = 0.000) (p <0.05).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  ERE doses should be a factor to be considered right at the initiation of any diagnostic and/or therapeutic procedure. Especially in the case of multiple stone locations, due to the high exposure to ionized radiation, different imaging modalities with low dose and/or totally without a dose should be employed in the diagnosis, treatment, and follow-up bearing the aim to optimize diagnosis while minimizing the radiation dose as much as possible.
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, Selcuk University, Faculty of Medicine, Konya, Turkey.
authors.forename: Mehmet
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kaynar
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, Konya Education and Research Hospital, Konya, Turkey.
authors.forename: Erdem
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Tekinarslan
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Necmettin Erbakan University, Faculty of Medicine, Konya, Turkey.
authors.forename: Suat
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Keskin
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, Mevlana University, Faculty of Medicine, Konya, Turkey.
authors.forename: İbrahim
authors.initials: İ
authors.lastname: Buldu
authors.affiliation: Medical Park Ankara Hospital, Ankara, Turkey.
authors.forename: Mehmet Giray
authors.initials: MG
authors.lastname: Sönmez
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, Faculty of Medicine, Mevlana University, Konya, Turkey.
authors.forename: Tuna
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Karatag
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, Faculty of Medicine, Mevlana University, Konya, Turkey.
authors.forename: Mustafa Okan
authors.initials: MO
authors.lastname: Istanbulluoglu
keywords: SWL; follow-up; radiation exposure; urolithiasis