Evaluation of X-Ray Doses in Pediatrics Multislice Computed Tomography

Abstract

The present paper aims to estimate the doses delivered to children during a multislice computed tomography examination at the Mohammed VI University Hospital Center of Marrakech in Morocco and to compare our values with the dosimetric data the others countries. Method of Study. This study was conducted from 1st January 2020 to 1stMay 2020 at the pediatrics Computed Tomography unit in radiology service of Mother and Child Hospital of Marrakech –Safi region Morocco. Tube voltage, the Volume Computed Tomography dose index CTDIvol and the Dose-Length-Product DLP, current tube in milliamper seconds mAs), rotation time in seconds, slice thickness and collimation were collected by dosimetric sheet for three age groups of young with age ranged between 1 year- 4 year (AG1y5y), 5 year-10 year (AG5y10y) and 10 year-15 year (AG10y15y) The CT examinations studied are CTs of the Head, Chest and Abdominal-Pelvis. Results. For the studied age’s groups of children, 67 % of Computed Tomography exams were performed with a value of tube voltage 120 kV and 33% with a value of 110 kV. A comparison of CTDIvol and the Dose-Length-Product DLP For the three age groups AG1y5y, AG5y10y and AG10y15y of younger’s considered with other studies revealed that our DLP values from head CT are less than the recommended standards registered in literatures However, those of the Abdomen Pelvis and Chest CT are significantly higher than the Belgium and Germany diagnostic references levels. Furthermore the effective dose distributions ED were: 37, 2.2 and 1.2 mSv for head CT, 5.60, 3.2 and 3.1 mSv for chest CT protocol and 3.2, 88 and 8 mSv for abdominal-pelvis CT protocol. Conclusion. This study showed that our mean values of DLP for head CT are less than other National Diagnostic Dose Reference Levels. However, those of the Abdomen Pelvis and Chest CT are significantly higher than the diagnostic references levels in Belgium and Germany.