Real-time measurement and audit of radiation dose to patients undergoing computed radiography.

A real-time patient dose monitoring system for auditing computed radiography is described. Technical data from each exposure and for every examination type are collected and sent by a network to a workstation, which calculates the moving average values of entrance skin dose and dose-area product from the 10 most recently examined patients. Comparison of averages with reference values generates warning messages if reference values are exceeded, prompting corrective action if necessary.