Comparison of adsorbed skin dose received by patients in cone beam computed tomography, spiral and conventional computed tomography scanninng

The evaluation of absorbed dose received by patients could give useful information for radiation risk estimation. This study was performed to compare the entrance skin dose received by patients in cone beam computed tomography (CBCT), conventional and spiral computed tomography (CT). In this experimental study, 81 calibrated TLD chips were used. the TLD chips were placed on facial, thyroid and end of sternum skin surface in patients referred for CT of the paranasal sinuses(3 TLD chips for each area) to estimate the absorbed dose received by central part of radiation field, thyroid and out of field areas, respectively. The data were analyzed using one-way ANOVA and Tukey tests. The dose delivered to the center of irradiated field was about 0.79±0.09 mGy in CBCT technique compared with 16.31±3.71 and 18.84±4.12 mGy for spiral and conventional CT, respectively. The received dose by the out of field areas was about 54 percent of central area dose. There was statistical significant relationship between the imaging modalities and absorbed dose received by patients (P=0.016). The least absorbed dose was for CBCT and the greatest dose was for conventional CT imaging technique. The dose delivered to central area of irradiated field in conventional and spiral CT imaging modalities was about 24 times greater than of that in CBCT. Also, the highest received dose was for central area of radiated field and the lowest dose was for the out of field areas.