Oral Viva Prep

Question 1

what are DRLs

Answer 1

Benchmark for radiation protection & optimizing patient imaging

Question 2

what are DRLs based off

Answer 2

75th Percentile of distribution of median values of all participating facilities

Question 3

how do DRLs contribute to lower doses

Answer 3

PREP

Patient safety: ALARA principle of acquiring adequate diagnostic information using lowest radiation dose

Regulatory compliance: Ensures radiographers use doses within DRL limits to meet legal & professional standards of the radiography profession

Education & training: Educate radiographers on best practices using the lowest radiation dose to acquire adequate diagnostic information

Protocol optimization: DRLs serve to identify unusually high doses and innovate ways to ensure adjust one’s technique or equipment settings

Question 4

What is the relationship between BMI and CT dose?

Answer 4

Directly proportional relationship between BMI & CT dose

Question 5

how does higher BMI lead to higher CT dose

Answer 5

Higher BMI = greater x-ray beam attenuation = higher exposure settings required for x-ray beam to penetrate body effectively

Lower doses will result in noise which can be countered by increasing mAs but that will increase dose too