Introduction

Chest radiography remains the most often utilized radiological modality in the neonatal intensive care unit. Neonates are more radiosensitive and are at higher risk of cancer than adults. In addition, they have a longer life expectancy, which increases the risk of cancer. Therefore, it is essential to protect neonates from radiation hazards.

Purpose

The study aims to assess the effectiveness of using high HKVp technique on reducing radiation dose to neonates undergoing Antero-posterior (AP) chest x-rays.

Materials and methods

The experiment used a newborn anthropomorphic phantom to simulate a neonate. Chest x-ray images were acquired using different combinations of KVp and mAs. Dose area product (DAP) was recorded in the Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine (DICOM) header. The effective dose was determined using Monte Carlo simulation. Subjective assessment of image quality was evaluated by three radiologists blindly. The Objective assessment of image quality uses the calculation of the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and the contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR).

Results

The reduction in the DAP and effective dose at 50 KVp was 26.7% and 19.2%, respectively and for 60 KVp it was 22.9 and 20.2, respectively. While, the reduction in the DAP and effective dose at 70 KVp was 40% and 26%, respectively. There were no significant differences in the means of the DAP, SNR, CNR, and effective dose among different combinations of KVp and mAs.

Conclusion

The use of the high KVp technique can play an important role in reducing radiation dose without significant loss of image quality.

中文翻译：

---

高千伏峰技术对新生儿胸片放射剂量的影响：实验研究

介绍

胸片仍然是新生儿重症监护病房中最常用的放射检查方式。与成人相比，新生儿对放射线更敏感，患癌症的风险也更高。此外，他们的预期寿命更长，这增加了患癌症的风险。因此，保护​​新生儿免受辐射危害至关重要。

目的

该研究旨在评估使用高 HKVp 技术对减少接受前后 (AP) 胸部 X 光检查的新生儿的辐射剂量的有效性。

材料和方法

该实验使用新生儿拟人模型来模拟新生儿。使用 KVp 和 mAs 的不同组合获取胸部 X 射线图像。剂量面积乘积 (DAP) 记录在医学数字成像和通信 (DICOM) 标题中。使用蒙特卡罗模拟确定有效剂量。图像质量的主观评估由三名放射科医师盲目评估。图像质量的客观评估使用信噪比 (SNR) 和对比度噪声比 (CNR) 的计算。

结果

在 50 KVp 时 DAP 和有效剂量的降低分别为 26.7% 和 19.2%，在 60 KVp 时分别为 22.9 和 20.2。而在 70 KVp 时 DAP 和有效剂量的降低分别为 40% 和 26%。在 KVp 和 mAs 的不同组合中，DAP、SNR、CNR 和有效剂量的均值没有显着差异。

结论

使用高 KVp 技术可以在减少辐射剂量方面发挥重要作用，而不会显着降低图像质量。