Radiation exposure of children during fluoroscopy with and without automatic control of the dose rate

In order to detect differences in the radiation exposure of children in fluoroscopy with automatic control of the dose rate (DLR) and with conventional adjustment of current and voltage on the generator surface dosimetric examinations were performed. The studies were made with 2 unselected groups of 119 and 118 patients, respectively, aged 0 - 15 years, who were comparable with each other with respect to age, body diameter and type of fluoroscopy. Besides the well-known advantages of DLR of constantly good images independent of the position of the patient and of the transilluminated body region there was a highly significant decrease of the radiation dose for all fluoroscopies compared to the freely chosen parameters. Therefore the quipment with DLR has to be demanded for all pedoradiological departments. (author)