Dose calculation in Abdominal-Pelvic CT examinations from two hospitals in the Lisbon area

This work aims to evaluate whether the dose values received by patients submitted to Abdominal-pelvic Computed Tomography (CT) in two hospitals in the Lisbon area do agree with the Diagnostic Reference Levels. The dosimetric units of examinations performed with modulated and continuous current in both hospitals were also compared. The study consisted in collecting data from 200 abdominal - pelvic CT's, obtained in two hospitals (100 per hospital) . In Hospital A, the mean DLP was 562.34 mGy.cm and the average values CTDIvol was 12.06 mGy. In Hospital B, the mean DLP and CTDIvol was 767.14 mGy.cm and 15.02 mGy, respectively. We have concluded that, from this sample, none of the dosimetric units values exceeded the Diagnostic Reference Levels values. It was also noted that tests performed in B involved higher doses of patient exposure to ionizing radiation.