Evaluation of Patient Effective Dose of Neurovascular Imaging Protocols for C-Arm Cone-Beam CT

OBJECTIVE. The purpose of this study was threefold: to estimate the organ doses and effective doses (EDs) for seven neurovascular imaging protocols, to study the effect of beam collimation on ED, and to derive protocol-specific dose-area product (DAP)–to-ED conversion factors. MATERIALS AND METHODS. A cone-beam CT system was used to measure the organ doses for seven neurovascular imaging protocols. Two datasets were obtained: seven protocols without beam collimation (FOV, entire head) and four with beam collimation (FOV, from the base to the top of the skull). Measurements were performed on an adult male anthropomorphic phantom with 20 metal oxide semiconductor field-effect transistor (MOSFET) detectors placed in selected organs. The DAP values were recorded from the console. The EDs of five protocols were also estimated using Monte Carlo simulations software. The ED values were computed by multiplying measured organ doses to corresponding International Commission on Radiological Protection tissue-weighti...