Radiation Exposure in Radiology of the Lumbar Spine

ABSTRACTA limited survey of relative skin surface radiation doses was carried out for the three methods of radiological examination of the lumbar spine. The average doses were; for CT – 38.25 mGy, for Myelography – 11.32 mGy and for Plain Film – 1.77 mGy. Gonadal doses measured during the survey were consistently low (0.2 to 0.3 mGy) and the use of gonad shields was found to have no measurable effect. The measurements also indicated extremely high surface doses at the iliac crest during Myelography (up to 181.66 mGy).