PROSPECTS FOR LOWERING DOSES DURING PREVENTIVE DIGITAL CHEST RADIOGRAPHY

Abstract

Objective: to search for the possibility of lowering a dose burden on a patient during preventive chest radiography.Material and methods. The investigation was carried out in two hospitals (City Mariinsky Hospital, Saint Petersburg, Russia) and (Skane University Hospital, Malm ° ö, Sweden) in 2013–2015. The existing protocols for this type of investigation were corrected by changing the anode voltage, the thickness of complete filtration, and the refusal to use a raster to determine the optimal dose/image quality ratio.Results. The investigation showed the possibility of reducing the values of the products of the dose per area (PDA) by 47% and lowering the effective dose (ED) by 33%, by increasing the tube voltage (up to 125 or 150 kV) and decreasing the thickness of full filtration of direct beam radiation (to 3 mm Al). The refusal to use a raster could further reduce the value of PDA and ED to 75%.Conclusion. Comparison of the dose values of Russian and Swedish X-ray apparatuses showed that the absolute values of PDP and ED are 10 times lower for Swedish devices in the same modes of chest radiography. This fact can be explained by the use of various image receivers and automatic exposure control settings.

Keywords

• optimization
• effective dose
• digital radiography
• anthropomorphic phantom