Radiation dose of Pediatrics in a general hospital in comparison to a pediatrics hospital

Introduction: Increasing CT scan application increased the cancer risk in pediatrics in recent decays. Imaging centers approach for diagnosis of disease cause to different radiation dose to patients.  Because  of  rapid  pediatrics  body  growth,  the  most  important  challenge to determining the radiation dose is wide variations of size in different ages. Thus, we used Size- specific dose estimates (SSDE) to achievement more accurate radiation dose assessment. In this study the radiation dose of head examinations of a general hospital (Trauma center of western Iran) is compared to a pediatrics hospital to find which one has a better approach for dose management.   Materials and Methods: We evaluated the total number of 280 CT scans in four age groups (≤1, 2-5, 6-10, 11-15 years. Number of 35 CT scans selected for every age group in both hospitals, separately. Volume Computed Tomography Dose Index (CTDIV), Dose Length Product (DLP), default phantom (16 or 32 cm) and age were recorded in prepared sheets using PACS viewer. Water equivalent diameter (DW) and SSDE calculated using the AAPM TG-220. Third and first quartile and mean ± SD were acquired using SPSS (SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL).   Results: Third quartile of SSDE was 19.64, 18.70, 18.49 and 18.13 mGy in general hospital; 13.78, 11.92, 11.94 and 20.77 mGy for pediatrics hospital in age groups of ≤1, 2-5, 6-10, 11- 15 years respectively. Third quartile of DLP was 317.4, 344.7, 344.7 and 344.6 mGy in general hospital; 128.5, 136.5, 152.5 and 250.8 mGy for pediatrics hospital in age groups of ≤1, 2-5, 6-10, 11-15 years respectively. Third quartile of CTDIV was 18.3 mGy for all age categories in general hospital; 11.5, 11.5, 11.5, and 21.1mGy for pediatrics hospital in age groups of ≤1, 2-5, 6-10, 11-15 years respectively.   Conclusion: General hospital gives the higher radiation dose to pediatrics for head scans with the exception of 11-15 years’ group. Optimizing the protocols according to the patient size is essential in both hospitals. Finally, pediatric hospital has a better dose management for pediatrics CT scans.