Effect of silicone rubber-lead (Sr-pb) thickness on dose reduction and image quality as gonad shield

Abstract

Background: Some organs in the body are sensitive to radiation such as eyes, breast, and gonads. Protection of sensitive organs against radiation is necessary. Re-cently, many sensitive organ shields have been developed from different materials. Objective: The aim of this study is to evaluate the dose reduction and image quality from implementation of Silicone Rubber-Lead (SR-Pb) as an alternative gonad shield in digital radiography (DR). Material and Methods: In this experimental study, the SR-Pb gonad shields with various thicknesses of 2, 4, 6, 8, and 10 mm were synthesized. This study used the Pb percentage of 5 wt%. An anthropomorphic phantom was used in abdomen plain examinations. The results obtained from the use of the SR-Pb was compared with standard gonad shield, i.e. lead apron. To measure the dose reduction, the Pira-nha detector was used. The image quality assessment was evaluated with the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and the contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR). Results: This study showed the dose reduction was significant for all SR-Pb thicknesses, and incrementally increased with the increase of the SR-Pb thickness. The minimum and maximum of dose reduction were 22.8% for 2 mm and 66.9% for 10 mm SR-Pb, respectively. Conclusion: Compared to the reference image without gonad shield, the SNR and CNR do not significantly change. Hence, the SR-Pb is probably to be used as an alternative gonad shield.