Normalised Organ Doses for Medical X-Ray Examinations Calculated Using Monte Carlo Techniques

Author(s)

D Hart, D G Jones and B F Wall

Summary

This computer data package provides estimates of organ doses and effective doses to adult patients undergoing diagnostic x-ray exposures. It contains the results of Monte Carlo calculations modelling the conditions of exposure relevant to 68 common radiographic views on a mathematical phantom representing an average adult patient.

Further details, including for an associated NRPB report, are given below.

Price

£50.00 VAT

Postage (each) UK: no charge; Europe: £5.00; rest of the world: £10.00.

Please add £8.00 if payment is not made in British Sterling drawn on a UK bank, to cover bank commission/conversion charges incurred by the HPA.

Order 

Technical specification

May be used on any standard IBM PC, AX, XT or true compatibles with MS-DOS 2.0 or above.

Further details

Effective dose is the standard measure in the UK for comparing risks from various sources of radiation exposure, including those resulting from diagnostic radiology. The precise determination of effective dose is complex and its calculation is unlikely to be carried out routinely in a hospital radiology department. However, if appropriate conversion coefficients are supplied, estimates of effective dose can be made from quantities easily measurable in an x-ray room. This computer data package provides estimates of organ dose and effective doses to patients undergoing diagnostic X-ray exposures. It contains the results of Monte Carlo calculations modelling the conditions of exposure relevant to 68 common radiographic views.

For each radiographic view, normalised doses are presented for 26 organs or tissues and 3 regions of the body (head, trunk and legs), along with the effective dose as defined by ICRP in 1990 and the effective dose equivalent as defined by ICRP in 1977. The data are provided for 40 x-ray spectra ranging from 50 kV to 120 kV peak applied potential and from 2 mm A1 to 5 mm A1 total beam filtration. The doses are normalised to both unit entrance surface dose and unit dose-area product.

Data for each series of calculations are provided as separate data files in compressed form on a floppy disk for use with computers under PC/MS-DOS*. Software is provided to expand the compressed data files but not for manipulation of the resulting Monte Carlo data. However, the report gives full details of the format of the normalised organ dose data and how they may be used. A computer program called XDOSE, which manipulates the data in a user-friendly manner, has been produced by the New Zealand National Radiation Laboratory; details are below.

The Monte Carlo calculations are discussed in more detail in a separate NRPB report. Although this document contains only the coefficients for estimating effective dose from the measurable dose quantities, it also includes values for 9 types of complete examination as well as the 68 individual radiographic views.

*MSDOS is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation.

Associated NRPB report

Hart, D, Jones, D G and Wall, B F (1994). Estimation of effective doses in diagnostic radiology from entrance surface dose and dose-area product measurements. NRPB-R262, Chilton.

Last reviewed: 25 May 2010