NRPB-SR250: Normalised Organ Doses for X-Ray Computed Tomography Calculated Using Monte Carlo Techniques

Author(s):

D G Jones and P C Shrimpton

Summary

This computer data package is intended to promote more widespread assessments of radiation doses to patients from computed tomography (CT) examinations.
Further details, including for associated NRPB publications, are given below.

Price

£50.00 VAT

Postage 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

CT has been established as a significant source of diagnostic x-ray exposure for the UK population. More widespread measurements of patient doses from such examinations are necessary to satisfy the requirements of both UK and European legislation for the optimisation of patient doses from the use of such techniques.

The computer data package contains the result of 23 series of Monte Carlo calculations, described in an NRPB report These model the conditions of exposure for a range of common makes of CT scanner. Data for each series of calculations are provided as separate data files in compressed form on a 3.5 inch microdisk for use with computers operating under PC/MS-DOS. When expanded, each data file contains 208 sets of normalised dose data for 27 organs or regions of a mathematical phantom, corresponding to irradiation under specific CT conditions of every 5 mm thick transverse slab of the phantom. Full details of the format of the normalised organ dose data are given, together with details of how these data can be used in assessing typical patient doses from individual CT scanners.

A useful and freely available specific tool for the manipulation of these CT dose coefficients has been developed by ImPACT (the UK CT evaluation centre at www.impactscan.org/.

Associated NRPB publications

Shrimpton, P C, Jones, D G, Hillier, M C, Wall, B F, Le Heron, J C and Faulkner, K (1991). Survey of CT practice in the UK. Part 2: Dosimetric aspects. NRPB-R249, Chilton.

Jones, D G and Shrimpton, P C (1991). Survey of CT practice in the UK. Part 3: Normalised organ doses calculated using Monte Carlo techniques. NRPB-R250, Chilton.

Last reviewed: 24 May 2010