Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2024 Aug 28;10(17):e37043.
doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2024.e37043. eCollection 2024 Sep 15.

Comparison of doses received from non-contrast enhanced brain CT examinations between two CT scanners

Veronika Žatkuliaková  1 , Martin Števík  1 , Martin Vorčák  1 , Ján Sýkora  1 , Zuzana Trabalková  1 , Gabriel Broocks  2 , Lukas Meyer  2 , Jens Fiehler  2 , Kamil Zeleňák  1
Affiliations

Comparison of doses received from non-contrast enhanced brain CT examinations between two CT scanners

Veronika Žatkuliaková et al. Heliyon. .

Abstract

Objectives: Medical devices based on X-ray imaging, such as computed tomography, are considered notable sources of artificial radiation. The aim of this study was to compare the computed tomography dose volume index, the dose length product, and the effective dose of the brain non-contrast enhanced examination on two CT scanners to determine the current state in terms of radiation doses, compare doses to the reference values, and possibly optimize the examination.

Materials and methods: Data from January 2020 to the second half of 2021 were retrospectively obtained by accessing dose reports from the Picture Archiving and Communication System (PACS). Data were collected and analyzed in Microsoft Excel. The effective dose was estimated using the dose-length product parameter and the normalized conversion factor for a given anatomical region. For statistical analysis, a two-sample t-test was used.

Results: The first data set consists of 200 patients (100 and 100 for older and newer CT scanners) regardless of the scan technique; the average CTDIvol and DLP for the older CT scanner were 57.61 ± 2.89 mGy and 993.28 ± 146.18 mGy cm, and for the newer CT scanner, 43.66 ± 11.15 mGy and 828.14 ± 130.06 mGy cm. The second data set consists of 100 patients (50 for the older CT scanner and 50 for the newer CT scanner) for a sequential scan; the average CTDIvol and DLP for the older CT scanner were 58.63 ± 3.33 mGy and 949.42 ± 80.87 mGy.cm, and for the newer CT, 57.25 ± 3.4 mGy and 942.13 ± 73.05 mGy cm. The third data set consists of 40 patients (20 and 20 for older and newer CT scanners) for the helical scan - the average CTDIvol and DLP for the older CT scanner were 54.6 ± 0 mGy and 1252.2 ± 52.11 mGy.cm, and for the newer CT, 37.18 ± 2.52 mGy and 859.66 ± 72.04 mGy cm. The difference between the older and newer CT scanners in terms of dose reduction was approximately 30 % in favor of the newer scanner for noncontrast enhanced brain examinations performed using the helical scan technique.

Conclusion: A non-contrast enhanced brain examination scanned with newer CT equipment was associated with a lower radiation burden on the patient.

Keywords: Brain; Computed tomography; Effective dose; Radiation dose.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Figures

Graph 1
Graph 1
Population of group 1.
Graph 2
Graph 2
Population of group 2.
Graph 3
Graph 3
Population of group 3.
Graph 4
Graph 4
box plot of the DLP parameter for each group of patients.
Graph 5
Graph 5
box plot of the CTDIvol parameter for each group of patients.
Graph 6
Graph 6
box plot of the ED value for each group of patients.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. K-H Do General principles of radiation protection in fields of diagnostic medical exposure. J Korean Med Sci. Feb 2016;31(Suppl 1):S6–S9. doi: 10.3346/jkms.2016.31.S1.S6. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Amis E.S., Jr., Butler P.F., Applegate K.E., et al. American College of Radiology white paper on radiation dose in medicine. J. Am. Coll. Radiol. 2007;4:272–284. doi: 10.1016/j.jacr.2007.03.002. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Curran T., Maher M., McLaughlin P., et al. Analysis of effective dose at computed tomography in a modern 64 slice multidetector CT System in an Irish tertiary care centre with local and international reference standards. 2020. https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.04.08.20057059v1.full#ref-5 medRxiv [Preprint] Available via. - DOI
    1. ICRP The 2007 recommendations of the international commission on radiological protection. ICRP Publication 103. Ann. ICRP. 2007;37(2–4) - PubMed
    1. ICRP Radiological protection and safety in medicine. ICRP publication 73. Ann. ICRP. 1996;26(2) - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources