Medical doctors' awareness of radiation exposure in diagnostic radiology investigations in a South African academic institution

Background: Diagnostic investigations using radiation have become a critical feature of medical practice in recent times. However, the possibility of doctors' underestimation of risks of over-exposure of patients to diagnostic radiation still warrants further evaluation. Objectives: To investigate doctors' awareness of diagnostic radiation exposure at Dr George Mukhari Academic Hospital, South Africa. Methods: This was a cross-sectional, analytical investigation of the awareness of doctors about radiation exposure in diagnostic radiology investigations. A cluster sampling technique was employed to recruit 217 participants. Consent and approval of the participants were sought and obtained before questionnaire administration during departmental meetings between October 2017 and March 2018. Results: Of the participants, 80% had no formal training on radiation exposure and 33.8% of them correctly estimated natural background radiation. Correct estimates of the effective dose from a single-view abdominal X-ray (AXR) were expressed by 7.5%, quantity of radiation of a single-phase computed tomography (CT) abdomen by 30.3% and dosage from a two-view unilateral mammogram by 29.1% of the participants. More than 75% of participants agreed that children are more sensitive to radiation, but only 10.5% suggested medical termination of pregnancy for a woman who had CT abdomen and pelvis with contrast. Dosage and risk of inducing fatal cancer from common but more complex imaging procedures were poorly understood. Only the doctors of the radiology department showed a statistically significant (p< 0.0001) association with regards to their radiation awareness. Conclusion: Because of the high rate of poor awareness of radiation risks observed in this study, it is important to initiate, early in the medical curriculum for medical students, the need for a rotation in the Department of Radiology, similar to such rotations in other medical specialties

Interdisciplinary investigation of occurrence of diverticular disease among patients referred for barium enema and colonoscopy studies at Dr. George Mukhari Academic Hospital, Ga-Rankuwa, Pretoria, South Africa

Background: Diverticular disease (DD) is believed to be a disease which is prevalent in developed countries. Contrary to this belief, DD has been reported with an increasing trend in prevalence in Africa for the past four decades. Objectives: The objective of this study was to highlight the increasing trend of DD and to corroborate barium enema findings obtained from Diagnostic Radiology Department, with colonoscopy results from the Surgery Department at Dr. George Mukhari Academic Hospital. Methods: Results for barium enema and colonoscopy investigations of all the patients referred over a 1-year period were retrospectively reviewed by two independent research groups; each of these groups was unaware of the research carried out in the Departments of Diagnostic Radiology and Surgery. Data from the records were analyzed with the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (IBM SPSS, version 22.0), New York, USA, version 22.0. Results: Barium enema results of 166 patients were evaluated for DD, and out of these, 129 patients (77.7%) were negative, while 37 patients (22.3%) (95% confidence interval = 19.07­25.50) were positive. A review of 384 colonoscopy results also revealed positive evidence for 47 patients (13.5%) (95% confidence interval = 10.30­17.50) for DD and 337 patients (86.5%) were negative. The findings of barium enema and colonoscopy investigative studies were similar for female preponderance, diffuse pattern of distribution of DD and the mean age of patients. Conclusion: The two studies corroborate each other and have produced the highest number of diagnostic yield for DD in one year, in Africa