Dose Audits of Patients Undergoing Some Common Radiographic Examinations in Selected Nigerian Hospitals

Abstract

This study aims at determining radiation doses for patients undergoing six (6) common radio graphic examinations in eight X – ray units in the southern part of Nigeria using computational method. Both public and private – owned hospitals were used for the study. Patient data and technical parameters were collected during the examinations. The meanentrance surface air kerma (ESAK) obtained from all the x-rays units considered ranged from 0.35 to 1.96mGy for Chest PA, 1.01 to 17.55mGy for Abdomen PA; 1.08 to 16.14mGy for pelvis AP,1.12 to 10.06mGy for Pelvis LAT, 0.08 to 3.54mGy for Skull AP/PA; 1.07 to 4.61 for Skull LAT, 1.67 to 12.46mGy for Lumber Spine AP, 1.82 to 14.24mGy for Lumber Spine LAT. Local diagnostic reference levels (LDRLs) were established based on the third quartile of ESAKs values. The established LDRLs were compared with previously established DRLs from other countries. The ESAKs values obtained in this study were found to be within the international established DRLs except in few cases.