Feasibility of using the computed tomography dose indices to estimate radiation dose to partially and fully irradiated brains in pediatric neuroradiology examinations

The purpose of this study was two-fold: (a) to measure the dose to the brain using clinical protocols at our institution, and (b) to develop a scanner-independent dosimetry method to estimate brain dose. Radiation dose was measured with a pediatric anthropomorphic phantom and MOSFET detectors. Six current neuroradiology protocols were used: brain, sinuses, facial bones, orbits, temporal bones, and craniofacial areas. Two different CT vendor scanners (scanner A and B) were used. Partial volume correction factors (PVCFs) were determined for the brain to account for differences between point doses measured by the MOSFETs and average organ dose. The CTDI_vol and DLP for each protocol were recorded. The dose to the brain (mGy) for scanners A and B was 10.7 and 10.0 for the brain protocol, 7.8 and 3.2 for the sinus, 10.2 and 8.6 for the facial bones, 7.4 and 4.7 for the orbits and 1.6 and 1.9 for the temporal bones, respectively. On scanner A, the craniofacial protocol included a standard and high dose option; the dose measured for these exams was 3.9 and 16.9 mGy, respectively. There was only one craniofacial protocol on scanner B; the brain dose measured on this exam was 4.8 mGy. A linear correlation was found between DLP and brain dose with the conversion factors: 0.049 (R² = 0.87), 0.046 (R² = 0.89) for scanner A and B, and 0.048 (R² = 0.89) for both scanners. The range of dose observed was between 1.8 and 16.9 mGy per scan. This suggests that brain dose estimates may be made from DLP.