Receptor dose and Patient Dose in Radiographic exposures - a 15 year review

摘要

A patient dose programme has been established locally for the last 15 years across 109 hospitals and 250X-ray rooms in line with the National Protocol [4], in conjunction with a programme to look at routine performanceof these rooms. Routine performance checks initially looked primarily at film density and AEC performance butwith the introduction of Computerised Radiography (CR) across UK hospitals and a revision of recommendedprocedures in the UK [3], the emphasis has shifted to assessing receptor dose under AEC control. Results show awide variation in film density in the early years indicating sub optimal performance and dose. The spread wasreduced over later years. The introduction of CR has led to a variety of approaches by the CR companies, X-raycompanies and local sites. Receptor doses vary widely as a result. Large variations within hospitals were alsoobserved. The doses over the last 15 years are reviewed and compared against diagnostic reference levels and withthe performance of the imaging chain. Results show that patient dose programmes and optimisation strategies werehaving an impact, but the introduction of CR requires renewed efforts to ensure images and doses are optimised.