{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,2]],"date-time":"2026-05-02T03:10:07Z","timestamp":1777691407531,"version":"3.51.4"},"reference-count":24,"publisher":"Springer Science and Business Media LLC","issue":"1","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2022,6,11]],"date-time":"2022-06-11T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1654905600000},"content-version":"tdm","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0"},{"start":{"date-parts":[[2022,6,11]],"date-time":"2022-06-11T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1654905600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["link.springer.com"],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["BMC Med Imaging"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2022,12]]},"abstract":"<jats:title>Abstract<\/jats:title><jats:sec>\n                <jats:title>Introduction<\/jats:title>\n                <jats:p>Diagnostic Reference Levels (DRLs), typically set at the 75th percentile of the dose distribution from surveys conducted across a broad user base using a specified dose-measurement protocol, are recommended for radiological examinations. There is a need to develop and implement DRLs as a standardisation and optimisation tool for the radiological protection of patients at Computed Tomography (CT) facilities.\n<\/jats:p>\n              <\/jats:sec><jats:sec>\n                <jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title>\n                <jats:p>This was a retrospective cross-sectional study conducted in seven (7) different CT scan facilities in which participants were recruited by systematic random sampling. The study variables were dose length product (DLP) and volume-weighted CTDI (CTDIvol)\u00a0for the radiation doses for head, chest, abdomen and lumbar spine CT examinations. The DRLs for CTDIvol\u00a0and DLP were obtained by\u00a0calculating the 3rd quartiles of the radiation doses per study site by anatomical region. The national diagnostic reference levels were determined by computation of DRLs using the 75th centile of the median values.<\/jats:p>\n              <\/jats:sec><jats:sec>\n                <jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n                <jats:p>A total of 574 patients were examined with an average age of 47.1\u00a0years. For CTDIvol\u00a0estimates; there was a strong positive significant relationship between the\u00a0CTDIvol\u00a0and examination mAs (r<jats:sub>s<\/jats:sub>\u2009=\u20090.9017, <jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>-value\u2009&lt;\u20090.001), and reference mAs (r<jats:sub>s<\/jats:sub>\u2009=\u20090.0.7708, <jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>-value\u2009&lt;\u20090.001). For DLP estimates; there was a moderate positive significant relationships between DLP and total\u00a0mAs (r<jats:sub>s<\/jats:sub>\u2009=\u20090.6812, <jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>-value\u2009&lt;\u20090.001), reference mAs (r<jats:sub>s<\/jats:sub>\u2009=\u20090.5493, <jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>-value\u2009&lt;\u20090.001). The DRLs were as follows; for head CT scan \u2013 the average median CTDIvol\u00a0was 56.02\u00a0mGy and the DLP was 1260.3\u00a0mGy.cm; for Chest CT, the CTDI volume was 7.82\u00a0mGy and the DLP was 377.0\u00a0mGy.cm; for the abdomen CT, the CTDI volume 12.54\u00a0mGy and DLP 1418.3\u00a0mGy.cm and for the lumbar spine 19.48\u00a0mGy and the DLP was 843\u00a0mGy.cm, respectively.<\/jats:p>\n              <\/jats:sec><jats:sec>\n                <jats:title>Conclusion<\/jats:title>\n                <jats:p>This study confirmed the need to optimize the CT scan parameters in order to lower the national DRLs. This can be achieved by extensive training of all the CT scan radiographers on optimizing the CT scan acquisition parameters. Continuous dose audits are also advised with new equipment or after every three years to ensure that values out of range are either justified or further investigated.<\/jats:p>\n              <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1186\/s12880-022-00838-x","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2022,6,11]],"date-time":"2022-06-11T16:11:46Z","timestamp":1654963906000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1007\/springer_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":17,"title":["Adult Computed Tomography examinations in Uganda: Towards determining the National Diagnostic Reference Levels"],"prefix":"10.1186","volume":"22","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-1667-5219","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Geoffrey","family":"Erem","sequence":"first","affiliation":[]},{"given":"Faith","family":"Ameda","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[]},{"given":"Caroline","family":"Otike","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[]},{"given":"William","family":"Olwit","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[]},{"given":"Aloysius G.","family":"Mubuuke","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[]},{"given":"Cyril","family":"Schandorf","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[]},{"given":"Akisophel","family":"Kisolo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[]},{"given":"Michael G.","family":"Kawooya","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[]}],"member":"297","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2022,6,11]]},"reference":[{"issue":"1058","key":"838_CR1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"20150671","DOI":"10.1259\/bjr.20150671","volume":"89","author":"Y Matsunaga","year":"2016","unstructured":"Matsunaga Y, Kawaguchi A, Kobayashi K, Kobayashi M, Asada Y, Minami K, et al. 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Waiver of informed consent was also given by the Research and Ethics Committee because there would be no direct interaction with the patients during data collection. The study was also carried out following relevant guidelines and regulations according to the Helsinki declaration. There was utmost confidentiality about the medical information that was collected.","order":2,"name":"Ethics","group":{"name":"EthicsHeading","label":"Ethics approval and consent to participate"}},{"value":"NA","order":3,"name":"Ethics","group":{"name":"EthicsHeading","label":"Consent for publication"}},{"value":"None.","order":4,"name":"Ethics","group":{"name":"EthicsHeading","label":"Competing interests"}}],"article-number":"112"}}