Urografi intravena (IVU) dan tomografi berkomputer helikal tanpa kontras (UHCT) urografi adalah dua prosedur utama
yang akan dijalankan semasa kajian radiologi bagi pengesanan urolitiasis (batu karang) pada sistem genitourinari.
Dedahan terhadap sinaran radiasi merupakan faktor kebimbangan utama dalam kedua-dua prosedur. Oleh itu, satu
kajian perbandingan dos sinaran telah dijalankan antara prosedur IVU dan UHCT urografi di samping menentukan faktor
dedahan optimum bagi kedua-dua prosedur tersebut. Kajian ini telah dijalankan ke atas fantom antropomorfi seluruh
tubuh mengikut protokol sebenar bagi prosedur UHCT urografi dan penghasilan radiografi bersiri beserta dengan
pemberian media berkontras bagi prosedur IVU. Sebanyak tiga parameter dedahan voltan tiub digunakan iaitu 75, 80
dan 85 kVp bagi prosedur IVU dan 100, 120 dan 140 kVp bagi prosedur UHCT urografi. Hasil dos sinaran bagi prosedur
IVU yang diperoleh adalah 1.40, 2.10 dan 2.79 mSv bagi 75, 80 dan 85 kVp. Manakala bagi prosedur UHCT urografi,
sebanyak 0.76, 1.32 dan 1.82 mSv dos sinaran direkodkan bagi 100, 120 dan 140 kVp. Hasil kualiti imej optimum adalah
menggunakan dedahan sebanyak 85 kVp bagi prosedur IVU dan 120 kVp bagi prosedur UHCT urografi. Kesimpulannya,
walaupun tidak terdapat perbezaan signifikan, dos sinaran yang terhasil daripada prosedur IVU adalah tekal lebih tinggi
daripada prosedur UHCT urografi.
Daily food intake of women may affect their bone health by altering their bone mineral density (BMD) as the lack of certain
nutrients may affect bone integrity whilst, BMD also can be a predictor of breast cancer. To date, many studies have been
conducted to discuss on association of BMD and mammographic breast density (MBD) and how both are related to breast
cancer risks but no consideration has been made on dietary intake. Therefore, this study was designed to determine
the association of dietary intake with BMD and other breast cancer risk factors. A cross-sectional study on 76 pre- and
postmenopausal women above 40 years underwent mammogram screening and Dual Energy X-ray Absorptiometry (DEXA)
was conducted in Hospital Kuala Lumpur (HKL) for the duration of 1 year. Purposive sampling method was used to choose
the respondents. Women who are diagnosed with breast cancer and underwent cancer treatment were excluded from this
study. DEXA unit (Hologic Discovery W, Hologic, Inc) were used to measure BMD at the femoral neck and lumbar spine in
grams per centimetre squared (g/cm2
) and they were classified into normal and abnormal group based on the T-scores.
The subjects were asked about their daily dietary pattern for a duration of three days using Diet History Questionnaire
(DHQ). The mean of selected characteristics were compared between groups. Additionally, binary logistic regression was
used to determine the association between diet intake with BMD and other risk factors of breast cancer. The total number
of pre- and postmenopausal women who consented to participate in this study are equal. The mean age was 47.1 years
and 54.9 years for premenopausal and postmenopausal women respectively. The results indicate only menopausal age of
the women was statistically significant (p < 0.05). A number of 17% premenopausal and 9% of postmenopausal women
showed to have family history of breast cancer, however, it was not statistically significant (p = 0.12). There was no
significant difference in daily energy intake of food in both groups (p = 0.22). None of the nutrients in daily food intake
showed to be statistically significant. Menstrual status showed an association with BMD with p < 0.05 and the remaining
risk factors did not show any association. Logistic regression revealed that only menstrual status had correlation with
BMD in both groups. This study provided the dietary pattern and the effects on bone health. The association of other risk
factors of breast cancer with BMD were also analysed and most of it showed a negative association.
BACKGROUND: Optimisation of average glandular dose (AGD) for two-dimensional (2D) mammography is important, as imaging using ionizing radiation has the probability to induce cancer resulting from stochastic effects. This study aims to observe the effects of kVp, anode/filter material, and exposure mode on the dose and image quality of 2D mammography.
METHODS: This experimental study was conducted using full-field digital mammography. The entrance surface air kerma was determined using thermoluminescent dosimeter (TLD) 100H and ionization chamber (IC) on three types of Computerized Imaging Reference System (CIRS) phantom with 50/50, 30/70, and 20/80 breast glandularity, respectively, in the auto-time mode and auto-filter mode. The Euref protocol was used to calculate the AGD while the image quality was evaluated using contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR), figure of merit (FOM), and image quality figure (IQF).
RESULTS: It is shown that AGD values in the auto-time mode did not decrease significantly with the increasing tube voltage of the silver filter (r = -0.187, P > 0.05) and rhodium filter (r = -0.131, P > 0.05) for all the phantoms. The general linear model showed that AGD for all phantoms had a significant effect between different exposure factors [F (6,12.3) = 4.48 and mode of exposure F (1,86) = 4.17, P < 0.05, respectively] but there is no significant difference between the different anode/filter combination [F (1,4) = 0.571].
CONCLUSION: In summary, the 28, 29, and 31 kVp are the optimum kVp for 50%, 30%, and 20% breast glandularity, respectively. Besides the auto-filter mode is suitable for 50%, 30%, and 20% breast glandularity because it is automatic, faster, and may avoid error done by the operator.
KEYWORDS: CDMAM; digital mammography; radiation dose