Evaluation of the entrance skin dose due to paediatric chest X-rays examinations carried out at a great hospital in Rio de Janeiro city

A dosimetric survey in paediatric radiology is currently being carried out at the paediatric unit of a great hospital in Rio de Janeiro city, aiming the assessment of patient doses and image quality. The aim of this work was to estimate the entrance skin dose for frontal and lateral chest X-rays exposure to paediatric patients. Three examination techniques were investigated, namely PA, AP and lateral positions. For entrance skin dose evaluation, two different TL dosimeters were used, namely LiF:Mg,Ti and CaSO4:Dy. The age intervals considered were 0-1 year, 1-5 years, 5-10 years and 10-15 years. The results obtained with both dosimeters are similar and the entrance skin dose values evaluated for the different age intervals considered are compared with previous values found in Brazil and also in Europe. (author)