Radiation dose to neonates undergoing X-ray imaging in special care baby units in Iran

Abstract

Radiographic imaging has a significant role in the timely diagnosis of the diseases of neonates in intensive care units. The estimation of the dose received by the infants undergoing radiographic examination is of great importance, due to greater more radiosensitivity and longer life expectancy of the neonates and premature babies. In this study, the values of entrance skin dose (ESD), dose area products (DAPs), energy imparted (EI), whole-body dose, effective dose and risk of childhood cancer were estimated using three methods including direct method [using thermoluminescence dosimetry (TLD) chips], indirect method (using tube output) and Monte Carlo (MC) method (using MCNP4C code). In the first step, the ESD of the neonates was directly measured using TLD-100 chips. Fifty neonates, mostly premature, with different weights and gestational ages in five hospitals mostly suffering from respiratory distress syndrome and pneumonia were involved in this study. In the second step, the values of ESD to neonates were indirectly obtained from the tube output in different imaging techniques. The imaging room, incubator, neonates and other components were then simulated in order to obtain the ESD values using the MCNP4C code. Finally, the values of ESD assessed by the three methods were used for calculation of DAP, EI, whole-body dose, effective dose and risk of childhood cancer. The results indicate that the mean ESD per radiograph estimated by the direct, indirect and MC methods are 56.6±4.1, 50.1±3.1 and 54.5±3.3 μGy, respectively. The mean risk of childhood cancer estimated in this study varied between 4.21×10(-7) and 2.72×10(-6).

Cumulative Radiation Dose from Radiography in Preterm Infants during Hospitalisation

“…5,11 Over the last two decades, a few radiation dosimetric studies have been published regarding exposure to ionising radiation from radiographs by preterm infants in a neonatal unit. [12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21] The mean gestational age (GA) of subjects ranged from 25.4 to 33.0 weeks. 17,21 The amount of radiation absorbed depends mainly on the number of radiographs received and the radiation dose of each radiograph.…”

Assessment of Radiation Exposure of Head and Neck during Panoramic Radiography in Different Age Groups

“…In a comprehensive research project carried out by Asadinezhad M, Bahreyni Toossi MT in 2008 ,they proposed the first Iranian diagnostic reference levels(9), (10).ESD is amount of skin absorbed dose at the entrance point of the X-ray beam.ESD measurement can be performed directly or indirectly. Termo Luminecent Dosimeter (TLD)measures the ESD directly (11).…”

Entrance Surface Dose (ESD) Measurement During Pediatric Chest X-Rays

“…Bahreyni Toossi et al [5] reported ESD value of 76.3 µGy and DRL value of 88 µGy for neonatal chest X-rays in Mashhad. Similarly, Faghihi et al [14] reported ESD value of 56.6 µGy for neonatal chest X-rays in Shiraz.…”