Background: Knowledge of organ and effective doses achieved during paediatric X-ray examinations is an important prerequisite for assessment of radiation burden to the patient.
Objective: Conversion coefficients for reconstruction of organ and effective doses from entrance doses for pelvis and hip joint radiographs of 0-, 1-, 5-, 10-, 15- and 30-year-old patients are provided regarding the Guidelines of Good Radiographic Technique of the European Commission.
Materials and methods: Using the personal computer program PCXMC developed by the Finnish Centre for Radiation and Nuclear Safety (Säteilyturvakeskus STUK), conversion coefficients for conventional pelvis and hip joint radiographs were calculated by performing Monte Carlo simulations in mathematical hermaphrodite phantom models representing patients of different ages. The clinical variation of radiation field settings was taken into consideration by defining optimal and suboptimal standard field settings.
Results: Conversion coefficients for the reconstruction of organ doses in about 40 organs and tissues from measured entrance doses during pelvis and hip joint radiographs of 0-, 1-, 5-, 10-, 15- and 30-year-old patients were calculated for the standard sagittal beam projection and the standard focus detector distance of 115 cm.
Conclusion: The conversion coefficients presented can be used for organ dose assessments from entrance doses measured during pelvis and hip joint radiographs of children and young adults with all field settings within the optimal and suboptimal standard field settings.