Journal of Medical Physics and Applied Sciences

Reduce Absorbed Doses and Protection of Radiosensitive Organs of Children Exposed to Ionizing Radiation on Adult Scanners

Purpose: The purpose of this work is to reduce absorbed doses by children and show how the manipulator's lead apron can be used to protect highly radiosensitive organs during pediatric CT scan on older generation scanners.

Method: From 2015 to 2018, scan length of 312 children were assessed prospectively. Head and bodies CT scan of children aged 0 to 15 years in three hospitals (H1, H2 and H3) were recorded.

Results: A test is performed in a country that studies this type of scanner. In 2015, the child’s radiosensitive organs were not protected during acquisitions and the scan lengths were longer than comparative literatures. After recommendations proposed in 2015 and the participation of many technicians from this country in the first radiology quality control seminar in September 2017 by an author of this article, in 2018, lead apron is used to shield radiosensitive organs of children during examinations. Lead apron is placed on the appropriate bodies parts.  No relevant artifacts were found, and the image quality was not affected. For skull examinations, scan lengths and Dose Length Product decreased by 4.9%, 6.32% and 3.46%  and by 25.14%, 36.29% and 19.85% for children <1 year, 1-4 years and 5-9 years respectively.

Conclusion: The reduction of scan length according to the clinical indication and the use of the lead apron to shield the radiosensitive organs when it is well positioned on the patient reduce absorbed doses by children exposed to ionizing radiation on adult scanners.

Author(s):

Eddy Fotso Kamdem, Odette Ngano Samba, Serge Abogo, Clemence Alla Takam, Alain Fotue, Fai Cornellius Lukong

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