Abstract:
Diagnostic X-rays are useful in detecting abnormalities within the body, the digital x-
ray is the advance modality of x-ray machines. Most clinical examination of the
radiological field only take in account the image quality without taking care about
dose receive by the patient .These study aimed to estimate the entrance skin doses
and effective doses for adult patients underwent chest digital x-ray PA and lumbar
spine (AP,LAT) examination using
mathematical relation between output and
entrance skin dose(ESD). The data was collected in two hospitals (MMC & RICK) in
Khartoum state with average load 30,20 case per day respectively.
82 patients were examined in this study, 42 for chest and 40 for lumber AP&LAT, the
data collected was include height, weight, age of patients, kilovoltage (kVp) , tube
current (mAs), and focus to skin distance (FSD) settings. These data was used to
calculate ESD and effective doses (ED ).
The mean ESD and ED of three examinations were (0.216±0.072),(3.869±1.09) and
(4.695±1.07)mGy and mean ED were(0.036), (0.53) and (0.194) mSv for chest PA,
lumber spine AP, and LAT respectively. These values were compared with those of
published works and international established diagnostic reference levels. The
variation of ESD was found to be 53% lower while ED was found to be 47% higher
compared with values of (UNSCEAR 2000) these refer to techniques used for the
examinations studied, the importance of establishing a national quality assurance
program and examination protocols to ensure that patient doses are kept as Low as
possible..
