University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Health Sciences, Medical Imaging and Radiotherapy Department Ljubljana, Slovenia.
Radiol Oncol. 2013 Mar;47(1):26-31. doi: 10.2478/raon-2013-0004. Epub 2013 Feb 1.
The aim of the study was to determine the influence of lead shielding on the dose to female breasts in conventional x-ray lumbar spine imaging. The correlation between the body mass index and the dose received by the breast was also investigated.
Breast surface dose was measured by thermoluminescent dosimeters (TLD). In the first phase measurements of breast dose with and without shielding from lumbar spine imaging in two projections were conducted on an anthropomorphic phantom. In the second stage measurements were performed on 100 female patients, randomly divided into two groups of 50, with breast shielding only used in one group.
On average, breast exposure dose in lumbar spine imaging in both projections (anteroposterior (AP) and lateral) was found reduced by approximately 80% (p < 0,001) when shielding with 0.5 mm lead equivalent was used (from 0.45±0.25 mGy to 0.09±0.07 mGy on the right and from 0.26±0.14 mGy to 0.06±0.04 mGy on the left breast). No correlation between the body mass index (BMI) and the breast surface radiation dose was observed.
Although during the lumbar spine imaging breasts receive low-dose exposure even when shielding is not used, the dose can be reduced up to 80% by breast shielding with no influence on the image quality.
本研究旨在确定在常规 X 射线腰椎成像中铅屏蔽对女性乳房剂量的影响。还研究了体重指数与乳房所受剂量之间的相关性。
通过热释光剂量计（TLD）测量乳房表面剂量。在第一阶段，在人体模型上进行了两个投影的腰椎成像时有无屏蔽的乳房剂量测量。在第二阶段，对 100 名女性患者进行了测量，随机分为两组，每组 50 名，仅在一组中使用乳房屏蔽。
平均而言，在使用 0.5 毫米等效铅屏蔽时，两个投影（前后位（AP）和侧位）的腰椎成像中的乳房曝光剂量分别降低了约 80%（p<0.001）（右侧从 0.45±0.25 mGy 降至 0.09±0.07 mGy，左侧从 0.26±0.14 mGy 降至 0.06±0.04 mGy）。未观察到体重指数（BMI）与乳房表面辐射剂量之间的相关性。
尽管在进行腰椎成像时即使不使用屏蔽，乳房也会受到低剂量照射，但使用乳房屏蔽可以将剂量降低多达 80%，而不会影响图像质量。
