Evaluation of Patient Skin Effective Dose Due to Diagnostic Procedures With X–rays in Lagos State, Nigeria

Abstract

Patient dose measurement in radiological procedures is an important and indispensable way of assessing the quality of procedures and the detriments of exposure to ionizing radiation. It is of particular application for interdepartmental comparison of the quality of procedures, of different protocols and of new techniques. The results of the Patient Skin Effective Dose (PSED) monitored for 9 most common radiodiagnostic and 4 special procedures in Lagos State, Nigeria are reported. The common procedures are the plain radiographs of the chest, skull, cervical spine, sinus, lumbosacral spine, pelvis, abdomen, shoulder and foot and hysterosalpingography (HSG), intravenous urography, barium meal and barium enema are the special or contrast procedures. 1977 procedures were monitored in some selected private and public hospitals for a period of over 12 months. These comprise of 1485 plain radiographic and 492 contrast procedures. Foot has the lowest mean PSED value of 0.310 x 10^-3Sv while lumbosacral spine has the highest mean of 3.960 x 10^-3SV among the common procedures. The PSED values in the contrast procedures are generally higher than the plain, with HSG having the lowest mean value of 2.300 x 10^-3SV and barium enema having the highest mean value of 5.270 x 10^-3Sv. The results compare favourably with those from other countries earlier reported in the literature. The slight differences observed have been attributed to differences in the patient anatomy, the radiographic exposure parameters and exposure conditions.

KEY WORDS: patient skin effective dose, radiodiagnostic procedures, dose limits, radiation hazards.

Nigerian Journal of Health and Biomedical Sciences Vol.4(1) 2005: 46-52