CALDose_X: a software for the calculation of absorbed dose to radiosensitive organs and for the assessment of radiological risks for patients submitted to X-ray radiography

Abstract

CALDose_X is a software tool that provides the possibility to calculate incident air kerma (INAK) and entrance surface air kerma (ESAK), two important quantities used in X-ray diagnosis, based on the output of the X-ray equipment. Additionally, the software uses conversion coefficients (CCs) to assess absorbed dose to organs and tissues of the human body, the effective dose as well as the patient’s cancer risk for radiographic examinations. The CCs, ratios between organ and tissues absorbed doses and measurable quantities, have been calculated with the FAX06 and the MAX06 phantoms for 65 projections of 21 commonly performed X-ray examinations, for 40 combinations of tube potential and filtration ranging from 50 to 120 kVcp and from 2.0 to 5.0 mm aluminium, respectively, various field positions, for 29 selected organs and tissues and simultaneously for the measurable quantities: INAK, ESAK and kerma area product (KAP). Based on the X-ray irradiation parameters defined by the user, CALDose_X shows images of the phantom together with the position of the X-ray beam. By using true to nature voxel phantoms, CALDose_X improves earlier software tools, which were mostly based on mathematical MIRD5-type phantoms, i.e. poor representations of human anatomy.