Changing Radiation Dose From Diagnostic Computed Tomography Examinations in Saskatchewan.

Purpose: Follow-up study to observe if provincial mean effective radiation dose for head, chest, and abdomen-pelvis (AP) computed tomographies (CTs) remained stable or changed since the initial 2006 survey. Methods: Data were collected in July 2008 from Saskatchewan's 13 diagnostic CT scanners of 3358 CT examinations. These data included the number of scan phases and projected dose length product (DLP). Technologists compared projected DLP with 2006 reference data before scanning. Projected DLP was converted to effective dose (ED) for each head, chest, and AP CT. The total dose that the patients received with scans of multiple body parts at the same visit also was determined. Results: The mean (± SD) provincial ED was 3.4 ± 1.6 mSv for 1023 head scans (2.7 ± 1.6 mSv in 2006), 9.6 ± 4.8 mSv for 588 chest scans (11.3 ± 8.9 mSv in 2006), and 16.1 ± 9.9 mSv for 983 AP scans (15.5 ± 10.0 mSv in 2006). Single-phase multidetector row CT ED decreased by 31% for chest scans (9.5 ± 3.9 mSv vs 13.7 ± 9.7 mSv in 2006) and 17% for AP scans (13.9 ± 6.0 mSv vs 16.8 ± 10.6 mSv in 2006) and increased by 19% for head scans (3.2 ± 1.2 mSv vs 2.7 ± 1.5 mSv in 2006). The total patient dose was highest (33.8 ± 10.1 mSv) for the 20 patients who received head, neck, chest, and AP scans during a single visit. Because of increased utilisation and the increased CT head dose, Saskatchewan per capital radiation dose from CT increased by 21% between 2006 and 2008 (1.14 vs 1.38 mSv/person per year). Conclusion: Significant dose and variation reduction was seen for single-phase CT chest and AP examinations between 2006 and 2008, whereas CT head dose increased over the same interval. These changes, combined with increased utilisation, resulted in per capita increase in radiation dose from CT between the 2 studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]