Assessment of organ absorbed doses in patients undergoing chest X-ray examinations by Monte Carlo based softwares and phantom dosimetry

Abstract: Dosimetric studies in patients submitted to diagnostic radiology examinations have been done in Brazil with the aim of contributing to a radiation protection culture. In this work, a typical chest examination condition was simulated and absorbed doses in selected organs were measured with thermoluminescent dosimeters in a Rando-Alderson anthropomorphic phantom. Doses were also calculated with PCXMC® and CALDose_X Monte Carlo based softwares. In most cases, organ absorbed doses calculated by Caldose_X agreed up to 50% with values from the reliable experimental procedure based on TL dosimeters in the Rando-Alderson phantom. PCXMC® calculations showed large differences in organ absorbed doses that could not be explained. Lack of agreement among doses obtained with the three adopted methodologies could be attributed to the differences between their phantoms in terms size, weight and location of organs as well as poor representation of human anatomy. If a large survey of dose assessment in patients submitted to chest X-ray examinations is intended to be done, the results of this work should be considered. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]