Journal of Medical Diagnostic Methods
Open Access

Abstract

Radiation Exposure of Patients Undergoing Common Diagnostic X-Ray Examinations in Some Major Hospitals in Visakhapatnam, India

Durga Prasada Rao A and Seife Teferi

Background: Everyone alive in this world is constantly being exposed to ionizing radiation and about 18% exposure is due to man-made source. Recent developments in medical imaging have led to rapid increases in a number of high dose x-ray examinations performed with significant consequences for individual patient doses and for collective dose to the population as a whole. It is therefore important in each country to make regular assessments of the magnitude of these large doses.

Objectives: To calculate collective dose of the population as a result of radiation dose from diagnostic x-rays, there by to estimate the annual effective dose per patients which would be reduced by the use of rare earth intensifying screen.

Materials and Methods: Data on the number of diagnostic procedures using x-ray examination in year 2010 in one governmental and four private Hospitals by body site were collected in Visakhapatnam. Typical effective doses for those examinations making major contributions to collective was calculated according to the European Guidance on Estimating Population Doses from Medical X-rays .The annual collective effective doses from x-ray diagnostics were obtained by multiplication of the estimated effective doses per examination type with the corresponding annual frequency and summation over all types of examination. The results were then collected and entered into a database for analysis.

Results: A total of 46350 (1.2 exams/patient) medical examination were collected in five hospitals in year 2010. The total collective dose to all patients from diagnostic plain x-rays, IVU and Barium studies was 47.3 man.Sv, this result in an annual effective dose per patient of 1.23 mSv. Lumbar spine and Barium follow accounted 13.65 man. Sv (28.88%) and 13.08 man.Sv (27.67%) of the total annual collective dose which results in 15.5% and 2.8% of exposures respectively.

Conclusion: Although the use of ionizing radiation for diagnostic medical procedures is an acceptable part of modern medicine, there is also the potential for inappropriate use and unnecessary radiation dose to the patient, so the request of high dose procedures must be justified.