Evaluation of Dose Reference Levels for Radiological Procedures in Sudanese Hospitals using (RaySafe Xi) detector

Abstract

The DRL is usually set at the third quartile value of the distribution of typical doses derived from those surveys both nationally and internationally. Using the third quartile or 75th percentile is a compromise between being overly stringent and overly complacent. The result of initial proposed DRL was obtained by calculating the entrance surface dose (ESD) for Conventional Radiological examinations. The aim of this study was to evaluate the local diagnostic reference levels (DRLs) in diagnostic radiology departments of some conventional x-ray examinations in Sudan. A total of ten governmental hospitals were assessed by estimating entrance surface dose (ESD) for six radiographic examinations including: skull (AP, LAT), chest (PA, LAT), abdomen (AP), lumbar spines (LAT) and pelvis (AP) exam. The proposed DRLs values were compared with the measured entrance surface doses in different countries and their results were compared with dose levels recommended by relevant organizations. The descriptive were reported. The results obtained in mGy were, 6.0 for the skull (AP), 7.1 for the skull (LAT), 0.9 for chest (PA), 9.2 for abdomen (AP), 18.3 for lumbar spines (LAT) and 8.1 for pelvis (AP). The obtained DRLs can provide a database for future dose measurements and improve the image quality and eventually reducing the dose to the patients.