estimation of absorbed and effective doses in organs through computed tomography examinations using automatic exposure control and fixed tube current techniques: a phantom case study

Introduction: the study aimed to assess absorbed and effective doses in organs through computed tomography (ct) examinations using automatic exposure control (aec) and fixed tube current (ftc) techniques. material and methods: scanning parameters were obtained for routine adult ct examinations and used to estimate the organ absorbed and effective doses using ct-expo software. the estimated effective doses were based on international commission on radiological protection publication 103 recommendations. results: regarding the scans performed with aec, doses to head, chest, abdomen and pelvic organs were within the range of 19.7-41.8, 6.4-17.4, 19.2-20.9, and 10.5-24.9 mgy respectively. moreover, the effective doses for the mentioned organs were 1.6, 6.1, 6.4 and 5.4 msv respectively. considering ftc technique, doses to organs ranged 16.7-75.5, 4.1-52.2, 10.6-33.2 and 5.2-38.7 mgy respectively. moreover, the mean effective doses of ftc were 2.1, 6.9, 9.4 and 6.1 msv, respectively. examinations performed with aec technique induced a dose reduction of 9% and 34% for head organs, 52, 62 and 25% for chest organs, 16% and 14% for abdomen organs, and 11% and 10% for pelvic organs, compared to the ftc. a dose increase of 3% was observed for testes. the mean effective doses for scans with aec were 13-46% lower than those obtained by ftc. conclusion: according to the obtained results of the current study, the estimated doses for scans with aec technique were in a lower level compared to ftc technique. accordingly, it is recommended to utilize this technique for ct examinations to ensure optimal dose reduction to radiosensitive organs.