A comparison of age-dependent entrance skin doses in pediatric chest exams with diagnostic reference levels for the Antioquia region of Colombia

In pediatric radiology, radiological protection is of vital importance due to the great radio-sensitivity of body tissues in childhood, which can come to present stochastic effects as children have a longer life expectancy. The objective of this research is to establish diagnostic reference levels in chest exam pediatric patients. The study, carried out in one of the largest pediatric centers of the city of Medellin, the capital of the Department of Antioquia, consisted of the calculation of the Entrance Skin Dose (ESD) for a sample of 814 chest radiographic studies in the anteroposterior (AP) and left lateral (L LAT) projections, and it was compared with the doses obtained with the computational program PCXMC 2.0. For the estimate of the Entrance Skin Dose, data were collected from the exams, including the size of the radiation field, mAs and kVp. The ESD in chest exams for 5-year-old children was the only one that exceeded the international reference levels, giving evidence of the need to optimize the techniques used in this type of study in the institution under evaluation.