Re: Kidney function test

[scherer@uiuc.edu (David Scherer)]

>     Dear Readers:
>     
>     I had a kidney function test in which they injected stable iodine and 
>     watched it go through the kidneys by taking a series of X-rays.  Does 
>     anyone out there in radsafe land know how much dose I might have 
>     received from such a procedure.  I couldn't talk to the radiologist 
>     and the nurse doing the test didn't have a clue.
>     
>     You can reply through radsafe or drop me a line at internat mail 
>     address m_jimenez@email.fpl.com

This exam is an intravenous pyelogram (IVP).  I have an older reference,
based on 1970 data.  The average entrance exposure per view (film) for this
exam (AP view) was 595 mR.  This resulted in the following average organ
doses: thyroid .01 mrad, marrow 116 mrad, lungs 35 mrad, testes 49 mrad.
The other tissues in the beam should average less than 300 mrad.  Again,
this is older data.  There have been significant advances in film-screen
speeds in the last 25 years, which would lower the dose substantially.
Also, these are national averages.  There are many factors which could
affect the dose at your hospital, including technique used (kVp, mAs,
distance), type of generator, and x-ray tube filtration.  But this will get
you in the ball park.  Perhaps someone else on the list has more recent
average data, e.g. NEXT data.

Dave Scherer
scherer@uiuc.edu