Dose distribution in children at chest radiography

The aim of this work was to estimate the absorbed dose and its distribution for frontal and lateral chest X rays in paediatric patients. A study of 126 children at one hospital in Sweden was carried out. Two examination techniques were used. For the patient measurements dose-area product meters and TL dosemeters were used. Entrance surface dose, energy imparted, organ doses and effective dose were calculated. The mean entrance surface dose for the younger children was 0.10 mGy for the frontal view and 0.16 mGy for the lateral view. For the older children the values were 0.13 mGy for the frontal view and 0.30 mGy for the lateral view. The mean absorbed dose to the total body for one examination (one frontal projection + one lateral projection) was estimated to be 0.02 mGy for the younger children and 0.03 mGy for the older. (Author)