CT Radiation Protection Quiz Flashcards
Why dose CT have a considerably higher dose than general x-ray?
Quantum mottle with small objects/slices and low contrast resolution requirements
The level of risk associated with a CT exam is considered acceptable if?
- the patient is aware of the risk
- the patient receives some type of benefit
- ALARA is maintained to reduce risk
2 general components that will help us determine appropriate exposure levels
- Appropriate patient selection
- ALARA without compromising the diagnostic quality of the image
Who provides a dose table that identifies doses delivered to patient?
The manufacturer
What is exposure dose?
Refers to the concentration (quantity) of radiation at a particular point on the patient
- roentgen or Coulombs per kg
- replaced by air kerma in grays (Gy)
What is absorbed dose?
Amount of energy absorbed per unit mass of material (patient)
- risks associated with radiation exposure are related to the amount of energy absorbed
- grays (Gy)
- rads (rad)
What is the effective dose?
Attempts to account for the effects specific to the patient’s tissues that absorbed the radiation dose
- Quantifies the risk from partial-body exposure to that of an equivalent whole body dose
- weighted average organ dose
- related exposure to risk
- considered type of radiation used (radiation weighting factor) and radiosensitivity of the tissue (tissue weighting factor)
- sievert (Sv)
- rem (rem)
2 main classifications of radiation effects?
- Stochastic (non-threshold): any dose no matter how small is a risk, probability depends on dose, measured using linear non-threshold dose response model, late effects: cancer, leukemia, hereditary effects
- Deterministic (threshold): severity increased with increased dose, dose below threshold = no effect, can kill cells and cause degenerative changes, early effects: skin erythema, epilation, pericarditis, occur with high exposures
How is the dose distributed in CT?
The entrance skin dose is greater than the dose at the center of the patient
Uniformity of dose __________ as the SFOV and patient size ___________?
Decreases, increase
Do small body parts or large body parts have a more uniform dose distribution? Does this mean a higher or lower total dose?
Smaller body parts have a more uniform dose distribution
Higher total dose
What is partial shielding?
Some body parts block the radiation from reaching other body parts
2 categories of factors affecting dose?
- Direct: we control them e. kVp
- Indirect: indirect effect on dose, but a direct effect on image quality ex. Noise, spatial resolution, contrast resolution
Factors affecting dose?
- Technique
- Collimation
- Pitch
- Centering
- Over-ranging
- Beam geometry
- Repeat scans
- Filtration
- Detector efficiency
- Scan field diameter
- Localizers
- Slice width and spacing
- Patient size and part thickness
- ATCM
Regarding collimations, which produces a higher patient dose: MDCT or SDCT? Why?
MDCT increased patient dose because the beam width must be increased so that the penumbra extends beyond the active detectors so that the detectors all receive the same amount of photons
Miscentering ________ image quality and __________ patient surface dose?
Decreases, increases
Improper side to side centering equals what percentage of dose increase?
18-41%
Improper up and down centering equals what percentage of dose increase?
140%
What is over-ranging and how does it affect patient dose?
Exposed scan length is greater than planned scan length (helical scans) = increased dose
Affected by reconstruction algorithms (iterative reconstruction algorithms are best)