Establishment of National Diagnostic Reference Level for Adult CT Exams: Overview of Kenya, Ghana, Tanzania, Uganda, Nigeria, Egypt and Cameroon publications

A diagnostic reference level (DRL) is a form of investigation level used as a tool to aid in optimisation of protection in the medical exposure of patients for diagnostic and interventional procedures. It is used in medical imaging with ionizing radiation to indicate whether, in routine conditions, the amount of radiation used for a specified procedure is unusually high or low for that
procedure. Diagnostic Reference Levels (DRLs) also corresponding to a set at the 75th percentile of the dose distribution from surveys conducted across a broad user base using a specified dosemeasurement protocol, are recommended for radiological examinations. In This paper, we review the
most common methodology that exist in the African literature because of our same socio-economic and demographic context. This paper put focus on providing a concise information overview to establish the DRLs. This overview can be useful for any on who project the study of DRLs. Overall, this
paper provides valuable stapes to carry out, suggest possible future trends and research.

Keyswords: Diagnostic reference level (DRL), Volume-weighted Computed Tomography Dose Index (CTDIvol), Dose Length Product (DLP)