Dose-area product in pediatric barium meal procedures

Pediatric barium meal procedures result in a higher patient dose than conventional X-ray imaging. Due to the fact that pediatric patients are more radiosensitive and more likely to develop mutations because of the radiation exposure during their lifetime a high patient dose is a concerning issue. The aim of this work was to test the applied earlier dose-area evaluation method comparing with direct DAP measurements and to see the changes in patient dose with the acquisition of a new, more modern, equipment. The direct measurements with a DAP meter confirmed the dose evaluation method used in our earlier works and the possibility of dose reduction shown there. Implementation of a modern equipment with new features enabling dose reduction does not guarantee a positive result without staff training and even standardization of the technical parameters with subsequent demand to follow them.