[Evaluation and examination of accuracy for the conversion factors of effective dose per dose-length product].

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to reappraise the accuracy of a conversion coefficient (k) reported by International Commission on Radiological Protection Publication 102 Table A.2. The effective doses of the routine head computed tomography (CT), the routine chest CT, the perfusion CT, and the coronary CT were evaluated using the conversion coefficient (adult head: 0.021 mSv·mGy-1·cm-1, adult chest: 0.014 mSv·mGy-1·cm-1). The dose length product (DLP) used the value displayed on the console on each scanning condition. The effective doses were evaluated using a human body type phantom (Alderson Rando phantom) and thermoluminescent dosimeter (TLD) elements for comparison with the converted value. This paper reported that the effective doses evaluated from conversion coefficient became different by 0.3 mSv (17%) compared with measurements, the effective dose computed with the conversion coefficient of the adult chest may be underestimated by 45%, and the bolus-tracking which scans the narrow beams should not use a conversion coefficient.