Evaluation Of Size-Specific Dose Estimation (SSDE) InPaediatric Plain CT Brain at Selayang Hospital: ARetrospective Study

Abstract

Introduction: SSDE was introduced in 2011 to offer sufficient patient dose estimation. SSDE represents with more accurate measurement considering the size or thickness of the patient. This retrospective study was aimed to evaluate the size-specific dose estimation (SSDE) in paediatric plain CT brain on how head size affects radiation levels at Selayang Hospital. Methods: This study analyses 105 paediatric patients who underwent plain CT brain from January 2023 to January 2024. Data included were AP and Lateral diameter of head, CTDIvol, DLP, kVp and mAs. Descriptive statistical analysis was used to analyse the study population characteristics, Kruskal-Wallis was applied to see the difference of radiation dose in SSDE among each head sizes categories and Spearman’s Rank Correlation Coefficient to measure the direction and strength of the relationship between SSDE and head size of patients. Results: From Kruskal-Wallis test, this study shows no statistical different between SSDE distributions across head size groups. Lastly, correlation between SSDE and head size of patients appear to be weak base on the Spearman Rank Correlation Coefficient test. Conclusion: Further study in multi-centre setting is recommended to provide a strong and reliable research conclusion. Increasing the sample size was essential to getting a solid study result. A small sample size causes the data to be unequally distributed, which making the data not equally distributed that can interfere the data analysis. Furthermore, as water-equivalent diameter (Dw) to calculate SSDE as it is more reliable due to it consideration on overall X-ray attenuation properties rather than just the physical size for future studies.