A Regional Effective Dose, Risk of Exposure-Induced Death, and Annual Per Capita Dose in Diagnostic Radiology Procedures

Mansoreh  Zarei; Hamed  Zamani; Hamidreza  Masjedi; Razzagh  Abedi-Firouzjah; Mohammad  Hossein Zare

doi:10.18502/fbt.v13i1.20787

Mansoreh Zarei Department of Medical Physics, Faculty of Medicine, Ahvaz Jondishapur University of Medical Sciences, Ahvaz, Iran
Hamed Zamani Department of Medical Physics, Medical School, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran
Hamidreza Masjedi Department of Medical Physics, Faculty of Medicine, Shahid Sadoughi University of Medical Sciences, Yazd, Iran
Razzagh Abedi-Firouzjah Department of Medical Physics Radiobiology and Radiation Protection, School of Medicine, Babol University of Medical Sciences, Babol, Iran
Mohammad Hossein Zare Department of Medical Physics, Faculty of Medicine, Shahid Sadoughi University of Medical Sciences, Yazd, Iran

DOI: https://doi.org/10.18502/fbt.v13i1.20787

Keywords: Radiography; Entrance Surface Air Kerma; Effective Dose; Cancer Mortality; Annual Per Capita Dose.

Abstract

Purpose: Ionizing radiation exposure doses during radiological procedures may increase the patient dose; therefore, dose assessment is an important subject. The current study aimed to estimate the Effective Dose (ED), Risk of Exposure-Induced Death (REID), as well as Annual Per Capita Dose (APCD) in routine radiography procedures in Yazd province (Iran).

Materials and Methods: The data related to the exposure parameters and Entrance Surface Air Kerma (ESAK) of 9 public high-patient-load radiography centers (11 radiology devices) were collected from 783 patients. Five routine planar radiological examinations were included: lumbar spine, pelvis, abdomen, chest, and skull. The ED and REID values for each device and examination were obtained using a personal computer-based Monte Carlo (PCXMC, v. 2.0) software. The APCD was estimated by dividing the annual collective effective dose (ACED) to the Yazd population.

Results: The estimated mean ESAK values ranged from 0.26±0.11 mGy (chest examination) to 8.45±5.3 mGy (lumbar examination). The lumbar spine examination had the highest ED value (1.02 ± 0.75 mSv). The highest REID value for abdominal, chest, lumbar, pelvic, and skull examinations is associated with stomach (6.58±7.72), lung (2.36±2.79), stomach (7.03±6.11), colon (3.31±5.49), and other cancers (0.58±0.56). The ACED value due to the radiology examinations was obtained at 45.782 man-Sv.

Conclusion: Our results demonstrated that the dose variations among the patients were remarkably high. Choosing appropriate imaging parameters, reducing the frequency of unnecessary radiology examinations, and performing quality control procedures of radiology machines could reduce the patients' doses.