title: Diagnostic reference levels of paediatric computed tomography examinations performed at a dedicated Australian paediatric hospital.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Diagnostic Reference Levels (DRL) of procedures involving ionizing radiation are important tools to optimizing radiation doses delivered to patients and in identifying cases where the levels of doses are unusually high. This is particularly important for paediatric patients undergoing computed tomography (CT) examinations as these examinations are associated with relatively high-dose.
  
  
  METHODS
  Paediatric CT studies, performed at our institution from January 2010 to March 2014, have been retrospectively analysed to determine the 75th and 95th percentiles of both the volume computed tomography dose index (CTDIvol ) and dose-length product (DLP) for the most commonly performed studies to: establish local diagnostic reference levels for paediatric computed tomography examinations performed at our institution, benchmark our DRL with national and international published paediatric values, and determine the compliance of CT radiographer with established protocols.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The derived local 75th percentile DRL have been found to be acceptable when compared with those published by the Australian National Radiation Dose Register and two national children's hospitals, and at the international level with the National Reference Doses for the UK. The 95th percentiles of CTDIvol for the various CT examinations have been found to be acceptable values for the CT scanner Dose-Check Notification. Benchmarking CT radiographers shows that they follow the set protocols for the various examinations without significant variations in the machine setting factors.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The derivation of DRL has given us the tool to evaluate and improve the performance of our CT service by improved compliance and a reduction in radiation dose to our paediatric patients. We have also been able to benchmark our performance with similar national and international institutions.
authors.affiliation: SA Medical Imaging, Women's and Children's Hospital, North Adelaide, South Australia, Australia.
authors.forename: Giovanni
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Bibbo
authors.affiliation: SA Medical Imaging, Women's and Children's Hospital, North Adelaide, South Australia, Australia.
authors.forename: Scott
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Brown
authors.affiliation: SA Medical Imaging, Women's and Children's Hospital, North Adelaide, South Australia, Australia.
authors.forename: Rebecca
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Linke
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001315:Australia; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D006776:Hospitals, Pediatric; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D019047:Phantoms, Imaging; D011829:Radiation Dosage; D012016:Reference Values; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed
keywords: CT diagnostic reference level; diagnostic reference levels; paediatric CT diagnostic reference level