The development of dose optimisation strategies for x-ray examination of newborns

Lung diseases represent one of the most life threatening conditions in prematurely born children. In the evaluation of the neonatal chest, the primary and most important diagnostic study is the chest radiograph. Since prematurely born children are very sensitive to radiation, the radiation dose should be kept as low as reasonable achievable. However, since radiation dose is linked to image quality, it may not be lowered so far that it endangers the diagnostic or therapeutic outcome of the radiographic procedure. Therefore radiation dose and image quality should be balanced. In this study a Monte Carlo computer model was developed to assess patient dose and image quality in neonatal chest imaging. Using the model it was shown that the radiation risks associated with chest imaging were low compared other medical risks that these patients face. Furthermore the model proved that using extra copper filtration in the beam is recommended.