Article

Evaluation of X-ray doses in paediatrics multislice computed tomography

¹ Higher Institute of Nursing Professions and Health Technics, Marrakech, Morocco
² National Centre for Studies and Research on Water and Energy (CNEREE), Cadi Ayyad University of Marrakech, Morocco
³ Environmental, Ecological and Agro-Industrial Engineering Laboratory, University Sultan Moulay Sliman, Béni Mellal, Morocco
⁴ Physics of Particles and Medical Physics Team, Faculty of Sciences Ain Chouk, Hassan II University of Casablanca, Morocco

^* Corresponding author: khajmi.hassan@gmail.com

Received: 10 March 2023
Accepted: 22 September 2023

Abstract

The present paper aims to examine the doses delivered to children at the paediatric Computer Tomography (CT) unit in the radiology service of the Mother and Child Hospital (MCH) in the Mohammed VI University Hospital Centre (Med VI UHC) of Marrakech, Morocco, and to compare our values with the dosimetric data of the published literature. This investigation included 440 CT examinations of the head, chest, and abdomen-pelvis in paediatric patients whose ages ranged from 1 to 5 yr (AG_1y­5y), 5 to 10 yr (AG_5y­10y), and 10 to 15 yr (AG_10y­15y). We estimated the 75th percentile values of the Volume Computed Tomography Dose Index CTDI_vol (mGy) and the Dose-Length-Product DLP (mGy.cm). The obtained results showed that the calculated 75th percentile of DLP for head CT are less than the National Diagnostic Reference Levels (DRLs) observed in Japan, Belgium, Germany, French, United Kingdom, United State, and China. However, the proposed DRLs for the abdomen-pelvis, and chest CT are significantly higher compared with international DRLs.