Derivation of Local Diagnostic Reference Levels for Common Adult Computed Tomography Examinations in Moroccan Hospital.

Abstract

The purpose was to derive local diagnostic reference levels (LDRLs) for adults common computed tomography (CT) examinations in Moroccan hospital. The data of patients were collected retrospectively from one facility for 2 months period. The proposed LDRLs were defined as 75th percentile of spreads for CT dose index-volume (CTDIvol) and dose length product (DLP). Findings were compared with diagnostic reference levels (DRLs) of France, Australia and Egypt. A total of 259 cases were enrolled including 53% of male and 47% of female. The corresponding LDRLs in terms of CTDIvol (mGy) were 58, 15, 15 and 14 for head, chest, abdomen-pelvis and chest-abdomen-pelvis CT examinations, respectively. For DLP (mGy.cm) were 1298, 944, 1874 and 2026, respectively. The proposed LDRLs for CTDIvol were almost similar to DRLs of Australia, higher than those of France and lower than Egyptian DRLs. In terms of DLP, LDRLs were higher than compared studies with exception of head CT, which were lower and higher for CTDIvol than Egyptian DRLs. The results highlight higher radiation doses during adult CT scans, indicating the need to spread the same investigation regarding other imaging procedures including different radiological examinations across Moroccan hospitals.