Computed Tomography(CT) Radiation Dose in Children: A Survey to Propose Regional Diagnostic Reference Levels in Accra, Ghana

ABSTRACT

The aim of this work was to assess the doses delivered to paediatric patients during computed tomography (CT) examinations of the head, chest and abdomen, and establishing regional diagnostic reference levels (RDRLs) for four age groups. The patient data, technique parameters and dose descriptors collected include: age, sex, tube voltage, tube current, rotation time, slice thickness, scan length, volume CT dose index (CTDIvol) and dose length product (DLP). Currently, paediatric CT examinations account for 11% of radiation exposure. For the paediatric age groups; < 1 year, (1-5 years), (6-10 years) and (11-15 years), the proposed RDRLs for head in terms of CTDIvol are (28, 38, 48 and 86 mGy) and in terms of DLP; (395, 487, 601, 1614 mGy cm) respectively. For Chest examinations, proposed RDRLs in terms of CTDIvol are (1 and 5 mGy) and in terms of DLP; (18 and 110 mGy cm) for age groups; < 1 year and (1-5 years) respectively. For Abdomino-pelvic examinations, proposed RDRLs in terms of CTDIvol are (3, 3 and 10 mGy) and in terms of DLP; (71, 120 and 494 mGy cm) for age groups; < 1 year, (1-5 years) and (6-10 years) respectively. For abdomen examinations, proposed RDRLs in terms of CTDIvol are (3, 5 and 5 mGy) and in terms of DLP; (83, 124 and 233 mGy cm) for age groups; < 1 year, (1-5 years) and (11-15 years) respectively. RDRLs have been proposed for CTDIvol and DLP for head, chest, abdomen and Abdominopelvic paediatric CT examinations in this study. An optimisation is required for 11-15 years age group for the DLP values which was higher than their corresponding international DRLs. For an effective optimization of patient protection a trade-off between image quality and patients doses studies should be investigated.