Purpose: To understand the latest pediatric computed tomography (CT) exposure required for the revision of national DRLs.
Methods: A questionnaire was sent to 409 facilities where the members of the Japanese Society of Radiological Technology and the Japanese Society of Pediatric Radiology are enrolled. We investigated the imaging conditions, CTDIvol, and DLP of the pediatric head, chest, and abdominal CT examinations.
Results: In all, 43 facilities (11%) responded to our survey. multi detector-row CT (MDCT) systems were available in all surveyed facilities. More than 98% of the MDCT systems had more than 64 detector rows. The CTDIvol of all CT protocols was lower than the NDRL due to the progress of updating to MDCTs with radiation exposure reduction functions such as an iterative reconstruction, but the DLP of head and abdominal CT protocols of some age group were higher than NDRL.
Conclusion: It is necessary to review the imaging protocol with the attending physician and radiologist and consider further optimization of medical exposure.
Keywords: computed tomography (CT); diagnostic reference level (DRL); pediatric; radiation dose; revise.