A study of the application of paediatric reference levels

Radiation exposure of paediatrics is of particular concern because of the greater health detriment. In this study, the application of patient dose reference levels to paediatric radiographic examinations has been investigated. The relationships between entrance surface dose and patient age and size parameters have been studied in three hospitals. The data have been used to derive conversion factors to describe relationships between doses for children of different ages. The usefulness of equivalent patient diameter, weight and age as variables relating to doses has been examined. Simple conversion factors in look-up tables have been derived that link doses for patients of a variety of ages and sizes for particular examinations. It is proposed that factors of this type could be applied to data for individual patients to allow a wider range of ages to be included in any group. This would enable sufficient dose data to be collected from non-specialist hospitals for comparison with reference levels. It would facilitate identification of hospitals where doses are higher so that changes could be made to radiographic practice.