Absorbed dose assessment in newborns during x-ray examinations.

Often a newborn presents breathing problems during the early days of life, i.e. bronchopneumonia, wich are caused in most of cases, by aspirating a mixture of meconium and amniotic fluid. In these cases, it is necessary to make use of a radiograph, requested by the physician to reach a diagnosis. This paper seeks to evaluate the absorbed doses in neonates undergoing a radiograph. For this reason we try to simulate the real conditions in a X-ray room from Lima hospitals. With this finality we perform a simulation made according a questionnaire related to technical data of X-ray equipment, distance between the source and the neonate, and its position to be irradiated. The information obtained has been used to determine the absorbed dose by infants, using the MCNP code. Finally, the results are compared with reference values of international health agencies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]