Measurement of Entrance Skin Dose in Radiographic Examinations of Pediatric Patients

Background: This study was conducted to measure the entrance skin dose in radiographic examinations of pediatric patients in King Khalid Hospital, Majmaah, Saudi Arabia. Introduction: Children have been given special attention since they are often regarded as especially vulnerable to potential hazards. The pediatric population is more susceptible to radiation than the adult population for certain tumor types. Objective: The aim of this study is to determine the amount of Entrance Surface Dose (ESD) received by pediatric patients attending the emergency department. Methods: Traumatic department registers for pediatric patients admitted to the King Khalid hospital (Majmaah, Saudi Arabia) between 1st February and 31st December 2018 were retrospectively studied for all diagnostic (plain radiographs examinations) imaging did on pediatric (<18 years old) trauma patients. The entrance surface dose was used to calculate the total radiation dose for each patient. One hundred and twenty patients encountered the inclusion criteria of the study and their doses (chest, skull, and extremities) were assessed. Results: The mean of radiation exposure factors were 65.4 ± 7.9 (71.3 – 89.9) and 1.3 ± 0.2 (0.3–2.5) for X-ray tube potential (kVp) and current (mAs), respectively. The measured dose for pediatric patients were 0.10 ± 0.02 (0.09 – 0.37), 0.18 ± 0.04 (0.06 -0.59) and 0.09 ± 0.03 (0.03 -0.45) for chest, skull, and extremities, respectively. The mean Entrance surface dose received by trauma patients was 0.03-0.59 mGy. 51.7% (62 patients) of the patients received ≤ 0.25 mGy while around 48.3% (58 patients) received ≥ 0.26 mGy radiation dose from those examinations. Conclusion: Trauma patients attending to traumatic radiology department obtain substantial Entrance surface dose from chest, skull, and extremities imaging procedures within their initial assessment. The radiation exposure can also be lowered by optimizing each examination, therefore more studies are recommended for this task. The results obtained can be used as the basis for local reference dosages for X-ray examinations.