Assessment of Entrance Skin Dose for Adult Patients Undergoing Diagnostic X-Ray Examination at Gondar Referral Hospital Gondar, Ethiopia

Abstract

The patient radiation dose is a very essential parameter to control the quality of the x-ray services within the hospital. Dose monitoring helps to ensure the best possible protection of the patient and gives an immediate indication of incorrect use of technical parameters or equipment failure. The purpose of this research was to assess the entrance skin doses for adult patients for the age above 18 undergoing diagnostic x-ray examinations in Gondar Referral Hospital, Gondar, Ethiopia. A total of 182 patients of above 18 years of age from this hospital were incorporated in this study and the types of examinations were evaluated; namely, chest (AP/PA/LAT), skull (AP/PA/LAT), abdomen (AP) and pelvis (PA) for each patients information (age, sex, weight, height) and exposure parameters like, tube potential (kVp), tube current (mAs) exposure time (msec), FFD (cm) and FSD (cm) were recorded. The SPSS software was used to assess the ESD of the eight selected x-ray examinations in the Gondar Referral Hospital. Patient data and exposure parameters were captured into the software for the calculations of the doses. The mean ESD of the eight different examinations were calculated using the software and compared with published works and internationally established diagnostic reference levels. The mean ESD calculated were 0.27 mGy, 0.43 mGy, 1.31 mGy for chest AP, PA and LAT respectively; 1.05 mGy, 0.45 mGy, 1.14 mGy for skull AP, PA and LAT respectively; 2.10 mGy for pelvis AP and 3.25 mGy for abdomen PA. The values obtained compares favourably with similar works published elsewhere and internationally established diagnostic reference levels except for the entrance skin doses for chest which was slightly higher than published works, yet below the IDRL. This shows that when technical factors are optimized, patient doses will reduce substantially. Hence, the radiographers on practice should be well informed on radiation dose to patients and the means to protect their patients. Key words: Entrance Skin Dose (ESD), Conventional Radiology, DRL