The effect of contact radiation shielding on breast dose during CT abdomen-pelvis : a phantom study

Abstract

This study aims to investigate if contact shielding reduces breast radiation dose during computed tomography (CT) abdomen–pelvis examinations using automatic tube current modulation to protect one of the four most radiosensitive organs during CT examinations. Dose measurements were taken with and without contact shielding across the anterior and lateral aspects of the breasts and with and without organ dose modulation (ODM) to quantify achievable dose reductions. Although there are no statistically significant findings, when comparing with and without shielding, the mean breast surface dose was reduced by 0.01 μSv without ODM (1.92–1.91 μSv, p = 0.49) and increased by 0.03 μSv with ODM (1.53–1.56 μSv, p = 0.44). Comparing with and without ODM, the mean breast surface dose was reduced by 0.35 μSv with shielding (1.91–1.56 μSv, p = 0.24) and by 0.39 μSv without shielding (1.92–1.53 μSv, p = 0.17). The addition of contact shielding does not provide significant breast surface radiation dose reduction during CT abdomen–pelvis.