Pediatric effective dose assessment for routine computed tomography examinations in Tehran, Iran

Atefeh Tahmasebzadeh; Asghar Maziyar; Reza Reiazi; Mojtaba Soltani Kermanshahi; Seyyed Hossein Mousavie Anijdan; Reza Paydar

doi:10.4103/jmss.jmss_115_21

Pediatric effective dose assessment for routine computed tomography examinations in Tehran, Iran

J Med Signals Sens. 2022 Jul 26;12(3):227-232. doi: 10.4103/jmss.jmss_115_21. eCollection 2022 Jul-Sep.

Authors

Atefeh Tahmasebzadeh¹, Asghar Maziyar², Reza Reiazi³, Mojtaba Soltani Kermanshahi⁴, Seyyed Hossein Mousavie Anijdan⁵, Reza Paydar⁶

Affiliations

¹ Research Committee, School of Medicine, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
² Radiation Biology Research Center, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
³ Department of Radiation Physics, Division of Radiation Oncology, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX 77030, USA.
⁴ Social Determinants of Health Research Center, School of Medicine, Semnan University of Medical Sciences, Semnan, Iran.
⁵ Department of Radiation Technology, Allied Medicine Faculty, Babol University of Medical Sciences, Babol, Iran.
⁶ Department of Radiation Science, Faculty of Allied Medicine, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.

Abstract

Background: The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effective dose (ED) for computed tomography (CT) examination in different age groups and medical exposure in pediatric imaging centers in Tehran, Iran.

Methods: Imaging data were collected from 532 pediatric patients from four age groups subjected to three prevalent procedures. National Cancer Institute CT (NCICT) software was used to calculate the ED value.

Results: The mean ED values were 1.60, 4.16, and 10.56 mSv for patients' procedures of head, chest, and abdomen-pelvis, respectively. This study showed a significant difference of ED value among five pediatric medical imaging centers (P < 0.05). In head, chest, and abdomen-pelvis exams, a reduction in ED was evident with decreasing patients' age.

Conclusion: As there were significant differences among ED values in five pediatric medical imaging centers, optimizing this value is necessary to decrease this variation. For head CT in infants and also abdomen-pelvis, further reduction in radiation exposure is required.

Keywords: Computed tomography scan; National Cancer Institute CT (NCICT); effective radiation dose; pediatric.