Determination of the Diagnostic Reference Level (DRL) in Samarinda Hospitals

Abstract

The diagnostic reference level (DRL) is a form of investigative level used as a tool to help optimize protection to radiation exposure for diagnostic and interventional procedures. The purpose of this study was to determine the local DRL values for the examination of the abdomen, thorax, and head at radiology installations. The modality used was 128-slice CT scan. The numbers of patients whose data were used were 200 for abdominal examinations, 160 for thoracic examinations, and 100 for head examinations. Overall, the total patient whose data was used was 460. Data processing in this study was carried out with a quantitative analysis technique, namely descriptive statistics. This analysis technique used secondary data obtained from the results of recaptures or archival books for examination of the abdomen, thorax, and head. Data processing was carried out with a measure of diversity through the calculation of the third quartile in the data distribution. It was assumed that 75 % of patients performed examinations with a common diagnosis. The results of these calculations are visualized in the form of graphs of the relationship of computed tomography dose index volume (CTDIvol) with the number of patients and a graph of the relationship of dose length product (DLP) with the number of patients. In the abdominal examination, a CTDIvol of 12 mGy and a DLP of 1545.5 mGy·cm. In the thoracic examination, a CTDIvol of 11 mGy and a DLP of 903 mGy·cm were obtained. For the head examination, a CTDIvol of 34.25mGy and a DLP of 2190.25 mGy·cm were obtained. The conclusion obtained from this study is that the DRLs are relatively low, but they still need to be optimized by medical physicists.