DICOM structured report to track patient's radiation dose to organs from abdominal CT exam

The dramatic increase of diagnostic imaging capabilities over the past decade has contributed to increased radiation exposure to patient populations. Several factors have contributed to the increase in imaging procedures: wider availability of imaging modalities, increase in technical capabilities, rise in demand by patients and clinicians, favorable reimbursement, and lack of guidelines to control utilization. The primary focus of this research is to provide in depth information about radiation doses that patients receive as a result of CT exams, with the initial investigation involving abdominal CT exams. Current dose measurement methods (i.e. CTDI vol Computed Tomography Dose Index) do not provide direct information about a patient's organ dose. We have developed a method to determine CTDI vol normalized organ doses using a set of organ specific exponential regression equations. These exponential equations along with measured CTDI vol are used to calculate organ dose estimates from abdominal CT scans for eight different patient models. For each patient, organ dose and CTDI vol were estimated for an abdominal CT scan. We then modified the DICOM Radiation Dose Structured Report (RDSR) to store the pertinent patient information on radiation dose to their abdominal organs.