Estimation of the Effective Dose for Patients Undergoing PA Chest X-Ray Examination in Selected Hospitals of Al Najaf Governorate-Iraq

Hussien Abid Ali Mraity,

Published on: 2020-03-19

Abstract

The effective dose (ED) was estimated for 90 patients (male and female) undergoing PA chest radiography using CALDose-X.5 Monte Carlo software. The ED calculations were based on the measurements of X-ray tube output and from the knowledge of exposure factors. The X-ray output was measured using Rad-Check ionization chamber for each X-ray tube. In total, seven X-ray tubes were used to estimate the patients’ ED. Exposure factors (e.g. tube potential (kVp), tube loading (mAs) and X-ray source to image detector distance-SID (cm)) were recorded for each patient together with patient demographic data (weight(kg) and height(m)). Five main hospitals were considered in this research. The average ED for PA chest X-ray examination was ranged from 0.012±0.010 mSv to 0.13±0.0.029 mSv; across all hospitals. The overall average of the ED of all X-ray units is 0.053 mSv. The corresponding (kVp) set for PA chest X-ray was ranged from 69.13±3.61 to 100.23±8.98 kVp; (mAs) ranged from 2.24±1.25 to 35.33±2.21 mAs and for the SID, the range was between 100±0 and 202.30± 4.21. According to the resulted data, a clear variation in the ED together with the corresponding exposure factors was seen. The values of the ED were seen to be high when compared with the UK values (i.e. PA chest: 0.02 mSv); and were comparable to those reported by some developing countries (e.g. Nigeria, Iran and Palestine).

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