Citation

Santos FS, Santana PC, Mourão AP (2019) Organ Dose Evaluation for Head CT Scans using a Female Anthropomorphic Phantom. Int J Radiol Imaging Technol 5:049. doi.org/10.23937/2572-3235.1510049.

Copyright

© 2019 Santos FS, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

ORIGINAL ARTICLE | OPEN ACCESS DOI: 10.23937/2572-3235.1510049

Organ Dose Evaluation for Head CT Scans using a Female Anthropomorphic Phantom

Fernanda Stephanie Santos1, Priscila do Carmo Santana2 and Arnaldo Prata Mourão1,3

1Departamento de Engenharia Nuclear, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Brazil

2Departamento de Anatomia e Imagem, Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Brazil

3Centro de Engenharia Biomédica, Centro de Educação Tecnológica de Minas Gerias, Brazil

Abstract

Computed Tomography (CT) has become an important tool for diagnosing cancer and to obtain additional information on different clinical issues. Today, it is a very fast, painless and noninvasive test that can be performed high quality images. However, CT scans usually require a higher radiation exposure than a conventional radiography examination. Head CT scans are used for diagnosis of traumatic head injuries, infections and other diseases with instability. Based on this information, three head scans were performed using the routine protocol used in the radiodiagnosis service, programming the appliance with a voltage of 120 kV, an electrical current of 175 mA and a pitch of 0.984. Experiments were performed with a phantom with and without eye shielding and in supine with the head tilted. Three head CT scans were performed on anthropomorphic female phantom model Alderson Rando, from the cervical vertebra C1 to the top of skull, using a GE CT scanner, Discovery model with 64 channels. Radio chromic film strips were placed in the lenses and in nearby radiosensitive organs, such as: Thyroid, pharynx, hypophysis, salivary glands, spinal cord and breasts for each scan. After the phantom head CT scan, the radio chromic film strips were processed for obtaining digital images. Digital film strip images were worked to obtain the dose variation in each organ. The results show that the parotid gland received the highest dose, 22.97 mGy, according to the incidence of the primary X-ray beam.