Entrance surface dose measurements for routine X-ray examinations in Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari hospitals

Background: There is not any report on the radiation doses received by patients in diagnostic radiology sections in hospitals under control of Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari Medical Sciences University, in the south west of Iran. Objectives: The aim of this study is measurement of entrance surface doses (ESD) for the most routine types of X-ray procedures in radiology centers as part of ongoing dose reduction program. Materials and Methods: Geiger-Muller and thermoluminescence dosimeters (TLD), were used to measure entrance surface doses for four common radiographic views in six hospitals (7 X-ray machines). The entrance surface dose was measured on 20 randomly selected patients (male and female) for each X-ray examination. Patients were not exposed to any additional radiation and the radiographs were used for diagnostic purposes. Results: The entrance surface doses for the PA and lateral chest X-ray examinations were found to be in the range of 0.22-1.45 and 0.34-4.90 mGy, respectively. The ESD values for the AP or PA skull and LAT skull were in the rage of 2.55-8.45 and 2.85-9.12 mGy, respectively. Most of the ESD measured doses were slightly greater than the ICRP and NRPB reference doses. Conclusions: The results of the present study indicate a need for quality assurance (QA) programs to be undertaken to avert considerable cost and high patient doses. The recommendations to avoid unnecessary radiation exposure are also given without lose of image quality.