Assessment of Radiation Dose Received from Chest X-Rays Examination for Traumatic Adult Patients, in the case of University of Gondar Comprehensive Specialized Hospital

Abstract

Chest radiograph is the most common examination for many clinical conditions. Traumatic adult injuries are the result of a wide variety of blunt, penetrating and burn mechanisms. They include motor vehicle collisions, sports injuries, falls, natural disasters and a multitude of other physical injuries which can occur at home, on the street, or while at work and require immediate care. However, there is no empirical study on the radiation dose received by traumatic adult patient at University of Gondar comprehensive specialized hospital. Hence, measuring radiation dose on traumatic adult patient is necessary for optimization in radiation protection. The main purpose of the study was to estimate the radiation dose received in chest x-ray for traumatic adult patient at University of Gondar comprehensive specialized hospital. Both qualitative and quantitative data analysis was used. The data were analyzed by using descriptive statistics which include mean, standard deviation, minimum, and maximum of variables. A total of 80 adult patients were selected from June 25 up to July 20, 2020. The mean ESD of male and female adult patients was 0.16 ± 0.041 mGy and 0.16 ± 0.05 mGy respectively. Simultaneously, the study was performed on chest examination projection parameters (PA, AP, and LAT) and in four age groups. Accordingly, the mean radiation dose for chest PA, AP, and LAT are 0.146 mGy, 0.169 mGy, and 0.222mGy respectively. The ICRP, NRPB, and European Commission reference levels are used as reference to compare this study result. In doing so, the mean ESD value in chest examinations were compared with the NRPB and EC reference level; and the result found that a lower value except for chest AP examination. On the basis of the results, the study concludes that the variation of ESD is due to the use of appropriate radiographic exposure factors like radiographic voltage (kVp), tube loading (mAs), tube filtration, patient size and film-focus-distance (FFD. This study provides a benchmark for further studies at University of Gondar comprehensive specialized hospital