Fetal dose estimation during computed Tomography

Imaging modalities such as Computed Tomography (CT) are one of the technologies to produce high-resolution images. The image generated by CT can be used to diagnose diseases in patients. CT may also be required during pregnancy to determine common causes of acute abdominal pain such as suspected appendicitis, intestinal obstruction, and pancreatitis, especially if other imaging techniques such as ultrasound and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) are inconclusive. For chest-abdomen-pelvic (CAP) CT examination, the possibility of the fetus being directly irradiated, so potential exposure to the fetus should be considered. The aimed study evaluated the dose received by the fetal during CT scan using IndoseCT software. IndoseCT is software for calculating and managing the radiation dose of computed tomography. The maximal dose received by the fetal is 50 mGy based on NCRP Report 128. This study uses three patient CT scan images on The Cancer Genome Atlas Uterine Corpus Endometrial Carcinoma (TCGA-UCEC) data obtained from The Cancer Imaging Archive (TCIA). The equivalent dose is calculated in the area of fetal growth. From the simulation, the values of CTDIvol, Dw, SSDE, and the effective dose will be displayed based on AAPM Report 204. The dose obtained in the area around the fetal growth in all three data was below the threshold.