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Considerations on the practical application of the size-specific dose estimation (SSDE) method of AAPM Report 204

Radiological Physics and Technology volume 7, pages 296–302 (2014)Cite this article

Abstract

Computed tomography (CT) is responsible for much of the radiation exposure to the population for medical purposes. The technique requires high doses that vary widely from center to center, and for different scanners and radiologists as well. In order to monitor doses to patients, the American Association of Physicists in Medicine has developed the size-specific dose estimate (SSDE), which consists of the determination of patient size dependent coefficients for converting the standard dosimetric index, CTDIvol, into an estimate of the dose actually absorbed by the patient. The present work deals with issues concerning the use of SSDE in the clinical practice. First the issue regarding how much SSDE varies when, for a given CT protocol, the scan covers slightly different volumes is addressed. Then, the differences among SSDE values derived from different patient size descriptors are investigated. For these purposes, data from a clinical archive are analyzed by an automatic procedure specifically developed for SSDE.

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Acknowledgments

The authors wish to thank Prof. Pier Andrea Mandò of the University of Florence for his support to the present work.

Conflict of interest

None of the authors have any conflicts of interest associated with this study.

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Affiliations

  1. Medical Physics Specialization School, Università degli Studi di Firenze, Florence, Italy

    Linhsia Noferini

  2. Health Physics Unit, Azienda Ospedaliero-Universitaria Careggi, Florence, Italy

    Christian Fulcheri, Adriana Taddeucci & Cesare Gori

  3. Emergency Radiodiagnostic Unit, Azienda Ospedaliero-Universitaria Careggi, Florence, Italy

    Marco Bartolini

Authors
  1. Linhsia Noferini
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  2. Christian Fulcheri
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  3. Adriana Taddeucci
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  4. Marco Bartolini
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  5. Cesare Gori
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Correspondence to Linhsia Noferini.

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Noferini, L., Fulcheri, C., Taddeucci, A. et al. Considerations on the practical application of the size-specific dose estimation (SSDE) method of AAPM Report 204. Radiol Phys Technol 7, 296–302 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12194-014-0265-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12194-014-0265-2

Keywords

  • CT
  • Dose
  • Size descriptor