Radiation Protection Dosimetry Advance Access published online on September 10, 2008
Radiation Protection Dosimetry, doi:10.1093/rpd/ncn233
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ASSESSMENT OF DOSIMETRIC QUANTITIES FOR PATIENTS UNDERGOING X-RAY EXAMINATIONS IN A LARGE PUBLIC HOSPITAL IN BRAZIL—A PRELIMINARY STUDY
1 Centro de Desenvolvimento da Tecnologia Nuclear, Comissão Nacional de Energia Nuclear, Caixa Postal 941, CEP 31270-901 Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil
2 Departamento de Energia Nuclear, Universidade Federal de Pernambuco, Centro de Tecnologia, Av. Prof. Luiz Freire 1000, Cidade Universitária, CEP 50740-540, Recife, PE, Brazil
* Corresponding author: masl{at}cdtn.br
Received April 1, 2008, amended July 23, 2008, accepted August 2, 2008
The introduction of routine patient dosimetry to Brazilian radiological institutions is very necessary in order to meet national and international standard requirements for radiation protection. This work presents a survey of the air kerma-area product (PKA), the entrance surface air kerma (Ke) and the effective dose (E) in common radiographic examinations during the routine of a large public hospital in the city of Belo Horizonte, Brazil. Results draw attention to the use of field sizes larger than the cassette dimension, the lack of both the collimation X-ray beam and the standardisation of the exposure parameters by radiology technicians.