ABSTRACT
Patients undergoing dual energy X-ray absorption (DEXA) scans are exposed to small doses of ionizing radiation. Few papers have been published on the effective dose and organ dose for patients undergoing such scans on newer DEXA scanners. PCXMC 2.0 was used to calculate adult patient dose arising from DEXA scans. PCXMC 2.0 calculations were compared to published data and a discrepancy was noted for organ dose. Following this, effective and organ dose were measured on an anthropomorphic phantom using TLDs as a second comparison. The mean dose from 50 scans (minus background radiation) was measured. The dose calculated from PCXMC 2.0 compared to published data shows very good agreement for effective dose but a difference for organ dose. Our TLD data and PCXMC 2.0 data for organ dose have a closer agreement, within 20%. We are confident in using PCXMC 2.0 to calculate adult patient effective and organ dose arising from DEXA scans.
