New-born babies exposure through radiological investigations

Introduction
Radiological investigation of new-born babies plays an important role in diagnosing their diseases. But the risk of exposure to X-rays cannot be ignored (two to three times higher in comparison to adults) due to their anatomic, pathological, and biochemical peculiarities and to the life expectancy of this population segment.  The babies’ respiratory frequency, the high heart rhythm as well as their fast movements could compromise the quality of the radiological image and generate the repetition of the procedure, which means an increased dose to be absorbed.  Subjects and methods
The study was carried out in five new-born babies’ clinics in South-West Romania between 2004–2007. We monitored the frequency and level of repeating the radiological examinations, and we measured the doses at the patient’s entrance surface related to different types of procedures, using the multi-functional device for testing the quality of radiological systems RMI-242, with plane ionizing camera and standard phantom. The results were compared with the references values.
 Results
A number of 4,233 (10%) out of the total number of 42,331 new-born babies were radiologically examined. The biggest number of exposures was 9, but the average number of radiographies performed on new-borns was 1.8, less than 3.8 or 4.7, as resulted in other studies (p < 0.001).  The doses measured at the patients’ entrance surface varied between 50μGy and 87μGy, being comparable to the reference levels. The biggest values were found in lung examinations, which also had the highest frequency (95.7%).

 Conclusions
 It is neccesary to use radiological equipments specific to paediatrics which allow adjusting the physical parameters so that the patients get the smallest dose per procedure. The most worrying thing should be not the dose value for one exposure, but the fact that a baby may be exposed to X-rays more than once in his first weeks of life.