Radiological assessment of patients' gonadal doses during chest x-rays

The researcher investigated the Gonadal doses of adult patients undergoing radiological examination of the chest at the radiological department of the Federal Medical Center (FMC) Makurdi Nigeria, using thermoluminescence dosimetry technique. The investigation was carried out using LiF TLD discs Reader model 4500 (Harshaw Radiation measurement product USA), 3-phase diagnostic x-ray machine and a single phase x-ray machine. The mean skin entry gonadal dose of the adult female patients and adult male patients were found to be 0.0630±0.0005mGy and 0.065±0.0003mGy respectively.Mean gonadal dose of the patients was found to be 0.0640±0.000342mGy. There was also a significant correlation between gonadal dose and tube potential in which higher tube potential delivered higher values of gonadal doses.Doses also decreased with increase in chest thickness.Results showed that, gonadal doses were within acceptable limits, which was approximately 6.4% of the 1mGy reference dose level recommended by ICRP.