A research report submitted to the Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand,
Johannesburg, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Medicine in
Diagnostic Radiology
Johannesburg 2019 / Introduction: Neonates in a neonatal ICU or high care unit are a high-risk population. Besides a vulnerability to medical and surgical conditions, which often require radiological investigation, they are also at risk from the effects of radiation used in imaging. These risks increase with radiation dose. Numerous studies have assessed the dose due to primary radiation, however few have assessed the secondary radiation dose, and none have quantified the dose over time.
Aim: To quantify the secondary radiation dose in our neonatal high care unit in order to determine if additional protective measures from secondary radiation are necessary.
Method: A prospective analytic study was undertaken using multiple thermoluminescent devices in a cubicle of a neonatal high care unit, and control dosimeters outside the unit. Dosimeters were deployed for a 4 week period. Simultaneously, data was collected on patient numbers, and the X-rays performed in the unit. Results were compared to reference ranges for primary and secondary radiation (2-3 mSv per annum).
Results: The average secondary radiation dose was 0.108mGy (p=0.6553) over 4 weeks, less than the expected background radiation dose of 0.17 – 0.25mGy. There was a large number of patients moving through the unit during the study period (89), with an average of 14 patients in the unit at a time, however this did not result a large number of X-ray exposures. Twenty one percent of patients were in the unit for less than a day, and 49 % were admitted for less than 3 days. Sixteen patients (18%) had X-ray investigations, with a total of 21 investigations and 30 exposures. Thirty percent of primary radiation dose was due to repeat exposures. Patients receiving X-rays had an average of 2 X-ray examinations (range: 1 to 4 studies) performed, with an average Entrance Skin Dose of 196.7µSv (0.197mGy) – range 77 to 554µSv (0.077mGy to 0.554mGy). There was no statistically significant difference between weeks or zones (p=0.1060 and p=0.8237 respectively), and differences in primary radiation doses was likely due to chance.
Conclusion: Additional measures to protect patients in the unit from secondary radiation are unnecessary. There was a low probability of patients having a radiological investigation in the neonatal high care unit, and secondary radiation doses were not measurably higher than background radiation. / TL (2019)
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:wits/oai:wiredspace.wits.ac.za:10539/29854 |
| Date | January 2019 |
| Creators | Feeney, Donovan L. |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | Online resource (72 leaves), application/pdf |
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