Tremendous growth in the use of computed tomography (CT) examinations and interventional radiology procedures took place in the last decade or after introduction of multi-detector CT in 1999. Radiological imaging of children, some organs of whose are particularly sensitive to radiation, has been shown to be among the fastest growing area in the last few years. In 1999 the European Commission issued Radiation Protection 109 (RP 109), "Guidance on diagnostic reference levels (DRLs) for medical exposure". This document highlights the importance of establishing DRLs for...

This 27-month tender project was awarded to a consortium, which is headed by the European Society of Radiology (ESR). Other participating organisations include the key European stakeholders and professional groups relating to radiation protection of paediatric patients: European Society of Paediatric Radiology (ESPR) European Federation of Radiographer Societies (EFRS) European Federation of Organisations for Medical Physics (EFOMP) Finnish Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority (STUK) with Public Research Centre Henri Tudor (CRP-HT) as subcontractor PiDRL is intended to provide European DRLs for the most frequent paediatric...

A comprehensive European and worldwide review of DRLs for paediatric examinations has indicated that only a few countries have set DRLs for paediatric examinations and there is a complete lack of national DRLs for many examinations, in particular for paediatric interventional fluoroscopically-guided procedures. Furthermore, the existing DRLs are often adopted from the old European Commission (EC) recommendations or from other countries, and only a few countries have based their DRLs on their own national patient dose surveys. In many countries, the initial DRLs have never...

Participating experts ESR: J. Damilakis (Scientific Coordinator; Chair WP 0, WP 2 and WP 3; Member WP 2), P. Vock (Scientific Co-Coordinator; Chair WP 0; Member WP 1 and WP 2), M. Hierath (Project Manager) ESPR: C. Owens (Co-Chair WP 3; Member WP 1), H. Ducou Le Pointe (Member WP 2), C. Granata (Member WP 2), E. Sorantin (Member WP 1) EFRS: G. Paulo (Co-Chair WP 2; Member WP 1), S. Foley (Member WP 2 and WP 3), D. Pekarovic (Member WP 1) EFOMP: S....

1. EC, RP 109. Guidance on diagnostic reference levels DRLs for medical exposure. Directorate-General Environment, Luxembourg. 2. Council of the European Union. (2013). Council Directive 2013/59/Euratom laying down basic safety standards for protection against the dangers arising from exposure to ionising radiation, and repealing Directives 89/618/Euratom, 90/641/Euratom, 96/29/Euratom, 97/43/Euratom and 2003/122/Euratom. Official Journal L-13 of 17.01.2014.