The development of a guidance level for patient dose for CT examinations in Korea

The primary goal of this study was to analyse the state of patient doses in the field of computed tomography (CT) examinations in the Republic of Korea. All survey data including the CT applications and patient dose details were obtained from general hospitals registered in the Korean Hospital Association. The systematic analysis of the patient dose survey gives target values of the weighted computed tomography dose index (CTDI_w) and the dose-length product (DLP). The targeted CTDI_w values were 69, 69, 31, 19, 44, 25, 24, 20, 2, 19 and 19 mGy for the brain non-contrast enhancement (BNCE), brain contrast enhancement (BCE), neck, chest, spine, liver, pancreas, stomach, kidneys, abdomen routine and abdomen trauma protocols, respectively. The targeted DLP values were 1056, 2112, 762, 1234, 1338, 2794, 2742, 2378, 2836, 1844 and 1939 mGy cm for the BNCE, BCE, neck, chest, spine, liver, pancreas, stomach, kidneys, abdomen routine and abdomen trauma protocols, respectively. Comparing with the EUR recommendation, especially in the DLP, the adjustment of the total scan phase frequency and the shortening of the scan phase in each scan phase are needed to reduce the patients radiation exposure to international standards.