Abstract
The young are significantly more sensitive to radiation than adults, by up to 3 times, due to their rapidly dividing cells and anticipation of a relatively longer lifespan. Positron emission tomography (PET)/Computed tomography (CT) plays a major role in the diagnosis of many clinical disorders, albeit with patients being subject to enhanced radiogenic risk from ionizing radiation. The aims of present research are to assess the effective doses during pediatric PET/CT examination using 18F-Sodium fluoride (18F-NaF) and 18F- Fluorodeoxy-d-glucose (18F-FDG) radiotracers. A total of 122 pediatric patients were examined, 78% (95 patients) and 22% (27 patients) undergoing 18F-FDG and 18F-NaF studies, respectively. The patients were scanned using two General Electric (GE) Discovery 710 128 slice PET/CT facilities installed in two tertiary hospitals. Patients were categorized into three age groups: ≤5 years, 6 - ≤10 years and 11 - ≤15 years. Per procedure, the mean cumulative effective doses (in mSv) for 18F-FDG group were 12.1, 10.7 and 12.1 for the three respective age groups. Moreover, the mean cumulative effective doses (in mSv) for 18F-NaF group were 6.8, 6.4 and 7.1 for the same three respective age groups. The cumulative effective doses have been found to be comparable with previous studies.
•Effective doses evaluated during pediatric PET/CT examination using 18F-NaF and 18F FDG radiotracers.•The PET/CT 18F FDG radiation effective doses have been found to be comparable with previous studies.•The pediatric doses resulted from 18F FDG procedures is 40% higher than the 18F-NaF procedures.•CT contributed up to 80% of patient effective radiation dose during PET/CT procedure.