Abstract
The pathology of the urinary system is usually investigated using Intravenous Urography (IVU). The study objectives are to quantify patients’ radiation dose and radiation induced malignant tumors risk during IVU examination. The radiation doses during IVU and the subsequent risks from exposure are studied, using data from 50 patients imaged in one hospital. The demographic data given as (mean ± std) was as follows:The age of patients was 39 ± 14 years; height of patients was 1.7 ± 0.1 m, the mass was 69 ± 10 kg and the body-mass-index was 24.3 ± 4.1 kg m−2. The physical exposure parameters recorded were: kVp: 74.04 ± 3.1, mAs: 33.64 ± 4. Moreover, the average number of films per procedure was 5.72 ± 1.49. The entrance-surface air kerma (ESAK) was 2.1 ± 0.64 mGy, and the mean effective dose was 0.131 ± 0.04 mSv. Calculation of the overall cancer risk yielded 5.9 × 10−6 procedures. ESAK (mGy) and effective dose values obtained in this study were comparable with reported studies as shown in the text. The effective and cancer risk are around ten times lower during IVU procedures than for example, contrast enhanced computed tomography urography (CTU) examination. Reduction of doses received by patients to meet the values of the diagnostic reference levels without compromising the quality and clarity of the images is highly recommended.
Radiation dosimetry; IVU; Radiology; Cancer risk; medical imaging.
•The radiation doses during IVU and the subsequent risks from exposure are studied.•The entrance-surface air kerma (ESAK) and effective dose were quantified.•Calculation of the overall cancer risk yielded 5.85 per million procedures.•Patients received higher doses due to unoptimized imaging protocol.