Size-Specific Dose Estimates for Thoracic and Abdominal Computed Tomography Examinations at Two Moroccan Hospitals

Size-specific dose estimates (SSDE) are the latest topic of interest in patient radiation–dose studies in computed tomography (CT). The aim of this study is to calculate and evaluate the doses (SSDE) by measuring the effective diameter (ED) of cross-sectional images collected during CT examinations of the chest and abdomen in Moroccan hospitals. Doses (SSDE) were calculated based on cross-sectional images by measuring the effective diameters of 75 patients in both examinations (45 for the thorax and 30 for the abdomen). Specific conversion factors for (ED) were used to convert the registered CTDIvol to SSDE, according to the instruction in the American Association of Physicists (AAPM) Report 204. In thoracic CT, the CTDIvol and SSDE values ranged from 5.8 to 10.7 mGy (mean: 8.08) and 9.55 to 15.37 mGy (mean: 12.13), respectively. For abdominal CT, CTDIvol and SSDE values ranged from 4.8 to 12.2 mGy (mean: 7.95) and 8.01 to 14.15 mGy (mean: 11.31), respectively. The results show that the SSDE is a useful tool and could potentially educate CT operators on its effective use as a way to optimize radiation dose instead of CTDIvol, in particular to establish diagnostic reference levels.