Article

Establishment of diagnostic reference level for routine CT scan examination in Sokoto state, Nigeria

¹ Department of Physics, Kogi State University of Education, 260001 Ankpa, Nigeria
² Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Serdang 43400, Selangor, Malaysia
³ Department of Radiology, Usmanu Danfodiyo University Sokoto, 840004 Sokoto State, Nigeria
⁴ Department of Radiology, Usmanu Danfodiyo University Teaching Hospital Sokoto, 840004 Sokoto, Nigeria
⁵ College of Health Sciences, University Malaya Medical Centre, 59200 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

^* Corresponding author: mkhalis@upm.edu.my

Received: 8 November 2023
Accepted: 4 March 2024

Abstract

Diagnostic Reference Levels (DRLs) are embedded into the optimization procedure to regulate CT dose and diagnostic quality. The purpose of this research was to establish the local DRLs and radiation dose exposure for CT scans at the Sokoto State Advanced Medical Diagnostic Center, Nigeria. 190 patients who had CT head, chest, and abdomen-pelvis scans were collected and evaluated for this study. It was established that the DRLs for CTDI_vol for the head, thorax, and abdomen-pelvis were 48.2, 9.44, and 8.02, respectively with DLP DRLs in mGy.cm were 1044, 372, and 646. When comparing head CTs, our CTDI_vol DRL is lower than many international standards, yet our DLP DRL is also below those of other nations. The chest CT DRL from Sokoto state is comparable to the DLP standards of some nations, although its CTDI_vol is higher. The abdomen-pelvis CTDI_vol DRLs are lower than those of the UK and US, thus necessitating the implementation of a controlled and optimized protocol in order to guarantee patient safety while maintaining image quality.