Thyroid shields and neck exposures in cephalometric radiography

BACKGROUND: The thyroid is among the more radiosensitive organs in the body. The goal of this study was twofold: (1) to evaluate age-related changes in what is exposed to ionizing radiation in the neck area, and (2) to assess thyroid shield presence in cephalometric radiographs METHODS: Cephalometric radiographs at one academic setting were sampled and neck exposure was related to calendar year and patient's gender and age. RESULTS: In the absence of shields, children have more vertebrae exposed than adults (p < 0.0001) and females have more neck tissue exposed inferior to the hyoid bone than males (p < 0.0001). The hyoid bone-porion distance increased with age (p <0.01). Thyroid shields were visible in 19% of the radiographs and depended strongly on the calendar year during which patient was seen (p-value <0.0001). Compared to adults, children were less likely to wear thyroid shields, particularly between 1973 and 1990 (1.8% versus 7.3% – p-value < 0.05) and between 2001 and 2003 (7.1% versus 42.9% – p-value < 0.05). CONCLUSION: In the absence of a thyroid shield, children have more neck structure exposed to radiation than adults. In agreement with other reports, thyroid shield utilization in this study was low, particularly in children.