Among the following practices, which helps reduce gonad dose during radiographic procedures (besides shielding)?

• A. increasing collimation
• B. increasing exposure time
• C. moving patient away from the beam
• D. removing shielding

Answer: (A)

Limiting the irradiated area with tighter collimation reduces how much tissue, including the gonads, is exposed and also cuts down on scatter that reaches those organs. By confining the beam to just the anatomy needed for the study, you lower the overall patient dose and improve image quality because there’s less fog from scattered radiation.

Increasing exposure time would raise the dose since the tissue stays in the beam longer. Moving the patient away from the beam can reduce dose via the inverse square law, but it isn’t always practical or safe for proper image capture. Removing shielding would remove a protective barrier and increase gonadal dose. So, tightening collimation is the best practice besides shielding to lower gonadal dose.