Background/introduction
According to the ICRP,
no radiation dose limits for CT should be used.
Therefore,
it is important to fulfill the ALARA concept,
performing CT examinations with radiation doses as low as reasonably achievable,
without sacrificing image quality.
Concern about accidents involving radiation dose in CT in the past made it clear that it is necessary to monitor how much radiation dose we are delivering to patients in CT examinations of all kind.
In the search for solving this and other problems,
different vendors have developed...
Description of activity and work performed
One of the many ways Radimetrics helps monitor radiation dose is through alerts.
Alerts may be set to notify events such an examination exceeding a specific dose value,
a patient who is reaching its cumulative dose threshold or dose calculation problems.
Those thresholds are determined by the users.
The way we reviewed these alerts is through the alert’s inbox,
where the events appear based on your own settings (fig.
1).
Each of these alerts must be checked and put into a deviation category (fig.
2)....
Conclusion and recommendations
It is important,
before and while implementing a Radiation monitoring software,
that all technologists involved in the process and performing CT examinations are well informed about how the system works and which elements are key for the correct use and performance of the software.
For example,
CT technologists must type the name of the user performing the examination directly in the CT console,
selecting the correct protocol for every examination without jumping the line,
among other issues that aren’t that relevant when not implementing a...
Personal/organisational information
Javiera Sanguesa
Radiographer,
CT Specialist
Department of Radiology -Clinica Alemana de Santiago
Facultad de Medicina -Universidad del Desarrollo
Daniella Fabri,
PhD
Medical Phisycist
Department of Radiology -Clinica Alemana de Santiago
Facultad de Medicina - Universidad del Desarrollo
Pablo Soffia,
MD
Chairman
Department of Radiology -Clinica Alemana de Santiago
Facultad de Medicina -Universidad del Desarrollo
Ricardo Castillo
Vicechair,
Clinical Technology
Department of Radiology -Clinica Alemana de Santiago
Facultad de Medicina -Universidad del Desarrollo
References
ICRP,
2017.
Diagnostic reference levels in medical imaging.
ICRP Publication 135.
Radimetrics users manual.