ENTRANCE SKIN DOSE (ESD) EVALUATION FOR PEDIATRIC CHEST EXAMINATIONS IN MINNA AND IBADAN

Abstract

Children are more susceptible to harmful effect of radiation because of the greater cell proliferation rate. Special attention must thus be paid to reduce pediatric dose to the minimum dose possible. Pediatric dose from chest examinations for 184 patients in one facility each at Ibadan and Minna is presented. Thermoluminescent dosimeters (TLD) -100 chips were used to measure the air kerma of each pediatric patient and the entrance dose computed by multiplying the kerma with a backscatter factor of 1.30. The mean dose obtained in this work were found to be generally higher for each age category when compare with published values of United Nation Scientific Committee on Effects of Atomic Radiation (UNSCEAR) for the same age category. A comparison of this work with another on three other different hospitals shows that values in this work were lower. There is need for optimization of pediatric radiological examinations in Nigeria.