RESUMO
BACKGROUND: Paediatric gastrointestinal fluoroscopy examinations can impart varying amounts of radiation for the same patient size and exam type. OBJECTIVE: To investigate the variability of imaging protocol, radiation dose and image quality in paediatric fluoroscopy examinations in order to provide recommendations for the harmonisation and optimisation of local practices. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Five paediatric radiology departments performing fluoroscopically-guided contrast enema, micturating cystourethrography and upper gastrointestinal tract examinations participated in this study. Information on imaging protocols and radiation doses was retrospectively collected for more than 2,400 examinations. Image quality was analysed on clinical and phantom images. RESULTS: Patient doses showed great variability among centers with up to a factor of 5 for similar fluoroscopy times. The five departments had imaging protocols with major differences in fluoroscopy dose regulation curves and additional filtration. Image quality analysis on phantoms and patients images showed no major improvement in contrast, spatial resolution or noise when increasing the radiation dose. Age-based diagnostic reference levels using both dose area product and fluoroscopy time were proposed per procedure type. CONCLUSION: Disparities between centers and no correlation of radiation dose with image quality criteria create margins for optimisation. These results highlight the need for guidelines on fluoroscopy image quality and dose reference levels in paediatric gastrointestinal examinations to harmonise practices and optimise patient dose.