A Study of Patient's Dose Control Using an Area Exposure Product Meter

Total skin doses of patients resulting from interventional radiological procedures have the potential to exceed the threshold doses for deterministic effects such as erythema and epilation. It is desirable to measure entrance skin dose values non-invasively, easily, and at real time. If an acceptable mathematical equation could be established, the entrance skin dose could be calculated from the measured area exposure product. We established an equation to calculate the entrance skin dose from the measured area exposure product by creating calibration factors from phantom studies. In this report, entrance skin dose was calculated by using area exposure product and our established equation, and the calculated value was compared with that of the thermoluminescent dosimetric(TLD)value in a clinical setting. Although a significant correlation was found between the calculated and measured entrance doses, the deviation was about 10% in phantom studies and 20% in the clinical setting. Using our equation, calculation of ectrance skin dose is possible from area exposure product and is useful for patient dose control in the clinical setting.