Effective dose from chest tomosynthesis in children.

Tomosynthesis (digital tomography) is a recently introduced low-dose alternative to CT in the evaluation of the lungs in patients with cystic fibrosis and pulmonary nodules. Previous studies have reported an adult effective dose of 0.12-0.13 mSv for chest tomosynthesis. The aim of this study was to determine the paediatric effective dose from the dose-area-product. During a 3-y period, 38 children with cystic fibrosis and 36 paediatric oncology patients were examined with chest tomosynthesis, totally 169 posteroanterior and 17 anteroposterior examinations (40 boys and 34 girls, mean age 13.7 y, range 7-20 y). Using recently reported paediatric chest tomosynthesis conversion factors (0.23-1.09 mSv Gy cm(-2)) corrected for sex, age and energy, the mean posteroanterior effective dose calculated was 0.17 mSv; using the proposed simplified conversion factors of 0.6 (8-10 y), 0.4 (11-14 y) and 0.3 mSv Gy cm(-2) (15-19 y), the mean posteroanterior effective dose calculated was 0.15 mSv. As the difference in the calculated effective dose was minor, it is recommendable to use the simplified conversion factors. Using the conversion factor for adult chest tomosynthesis (0.26 mSv Gy cm(-2)), the mean effective dose was 0.11 mSv. Anteroposterior exposures had considerably higher effective dose. By using conversion factors adapted for children, the calculated risks from radiologic procedures will be more accurate.