Measurements of Entrance Skin Dose in Egyptian Pediatric During Diagnostic X-Rays using Thermo Luminescence Dosimeter (TLD -100)

Abstract

Radiation protection in pediatric radiology deserves special attention due to the fact that children are more sensitive to radiation than the adults. This study is concerned with the measurements of pediatric entrance surface dose (ESD) using thermo-luminance dosimeter (TLD, LIF100) for patients ranging from age intervals: 0.1-5 years, 5-10 years and 10-16 years, respectively. A central public pediatric hospital and 120 Egyptian patients were included in this investigation. By careful selection of the patients, three types of simple radiography were selected, as follows: (50 to the chest, 35 to the abdomen and 35 to the skull). Pediatric chest examinations are the most frequent radiological examinations. Comparisons were performed between these doses and the diagnostic reference levels (DRLs). The results showed that mean patient skin doses measured with TLD for the patients ranging from 10-16 years old were 0.20 mGy 14%, 1.10 mGy 23% and 1.00 mGy 40% for chest, abdomen and skull examination, respectively. The mean ESD values were found to be within the range of ESD reference values, except those for the chest examination.