Evaluation of patient skin dose equivalent due to diagnostic procedures with X-rays in Lagos State Nigeria

This paper reports the study of Patient Skin Dose Equivalents in Lagos State, Nigeria, as one of the strategies of patient protection and x-ray procedure quality assessment. 13 most frequent x-ray diagnostic procedures were studied, these were: chest, skull, cervical spine, lumbosacral spine, sinusis, pelvis, plain abdomen, shoulder, foot, hysterosalpingography, intravenous urography, barium meal and barium enema. 1977 procedures were monitored for a period of 12 months in both private and public hospitals carefully selected from all over the state. The results obtained compared favorably well with those from similar studies reported in the literature. The slight differences observed have been ascribed to variations in the patient anatomy, exposure conditions and choice of radiographic parameters. (author)