Assessment of the Local Exposure Level during Adult Chest X-Rays at the Ngaoundere Regional Hospital, Cameroon

BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study was to estimate the doses delivered to adult patients during chest examination for comparison with those elsewhere and to establish a local diagnostic reference level for the chest. The doses delivered in the standard X-ray examinations are not sufficiently optimized and controlled. The working protocols for the same exam given differ for similar morphotypes within the same hospital structure. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The entrance skin dose (mGy) of the chest was evaluated on 105 adult patients with a mass of 70 ± 10 kg in accordance with the 75(th) percentile of the irradiation parameters. The analysis and processing of the data was carried out by Excel 2010. The entrance skin dose of the chest obtained in mGy was 0.18 ± 0.21 for the PA incidence. CONCLUSION: The present study allowed us to observe large variations at the entrance skin doses of the chest. These variations have made it possible to understand that the entrance skin doses to the chest are optimized and do not exceed the proportions of those estimated by others and standards internationally. This aspect demonstrates that the diagnostic reference levels as enumerated are dependent on the doses delivered and include not only the notions of quality of the radiographic image and the quality assurance of the radiological equipments but also the level of the manipulators trained.