Patient and staff radiation doses from early radiological examinations (1899−1902)

A source of data on radiographic and fluoroscopic examinations, including radiographic technique factors, was used in conjunction with information about cold-cathode X-ray apparatus to estimate patient and staff radiation doses for the years 1899 to 1902 at the Forth Banks Infirmary, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Physical evidence from representative apparatus of the period was used with a beam spectral simulation program to characterize the X-ray beam, and information about the electrical supply waveform was produced by experimental operation of a contemporary induction coil. Results are given in terms of skin entrance dose, and these are compared with modern values. An estimate of the annual dose received by the radiographer known to have carried out all of the examinations within this period is also given.