Assessment of Organ Dose and Effective Dose from Head CT Examination in a Large Hospital in South-Southern Nigeria

The magnitude of radiation dose imparted to patients who underwent Head Computed Tomography examination in a large tertiary hospital in South-Southern Nigeria has been estimated. CT-ExPO dosimetry software was used to determine the effective and organ doses to the head region of 40 adult patients. Scanning parameters were retrieved from the CT monitor for both contrast-enhanced and non-contrast head CT examinations. The tube potential ranged from 100 kVp to 120 kVp, while the mAs ranged from 127 mAs to 202 mAs. The mean values of the volume Computed Tomography Dose Index (CTDIvol) and Dose Length Product (DLP) for the contrast-enhanced Head CT examination were 166.4 ± 39.6 mGy and 3568.6 ± 756.1 mGy·cm, respectively, while for the non-contrast examination they were 86.6 ± 30.4 mGy and 2102.3 ± 870.3 mGy·cm, respectively. The effective doses were higher for the contrast-enhanced study than for the non-contrast study by a factor of 1.6. Results were compared with the European Union reference doses and other published data and were found to be higher. Doses to the organs which comprise of brain, red bone marrow, thyroid and eye lens were also estimated. The high variation in the doses in this study may be due to differences in imaging protocols such as large range of mAs and scan lengths and also the algorithm of the scanner.