Assessment of organ and effective doses received by adult patients undergoing computed tomography in three hospitals in Brazzaville, Congo Republic

The present study aimed to evaluate adult patient data collected from three hospitals in Brazzaville, Congo Republic, for the purpose of estimating organ and effective doses for each included examination type. A total of 1277 adult patients (aged 16–97 years) who underwent head, chest, abdominopelvic (AP), chest–abdomen–pelvis (CAP), and lumbar spine computed tomography scans were considered. The organ and effective doses were estimated using a Monte Carlo-based method. The effective doses were also determined using k -factors. In general, the organ and effective doses estimated in this study were higher than those reported in the literature. The k -factor method underestimated the effective dose by up to 65.9%. This study demonstrates that urgent steps should be taken to reduce doses administered to patients to optimal levels. Such optimal levels may be achieved by adopting local diagnostic reference levels, together with the implementation of dose reduction strategies.