Congress:
EuroSafe Imaging 2016
Keywords:
Action 2 - Clinical diagnostic reference levels (DRLs), Action 3 - Optimisation, diagnostic reference levels, image quality
Authors:
J. Damilakis, H. Jarvinen, P. Vock, S. Evans, G. Paulo, E. Sorantin
DOI:
10.1594/esi2016/ESI-0011
Description of activity and work performed
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:
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European Society of Paediatric Radiology (ESPR)
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European Federation of Radiographer Societies (EFRS)
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European Federation of Organisations for Medical Physics (EFOMP)
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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 examinations and to promote their use so as to advance the optimisation of radiation protection of paediatric patients,
with a focus on CT,
interventional procedures using fluoroscopy,
and digital radiographic imaging.
The specific objectives are to:
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Agree on a methodology for establishing and using DRLs for paediatric imaging
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Update and extend the European DRLs to cover more procedures and a wider patient age/weight range based on current knowledge.
To fulfil these objectives,
this project especially relies on:
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The cooperation of the most relevant European umbrella organisations and their key experts in this field,
supported by a radiation protection authority with wide experience on setting DRLs and radiation protection of paediatric patients,
further supported by its sub-contractors of a paediatric hospital and an IT expert institute.
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A European Workshop to discuss and disseminate the results of the work packages,
in particular the new insights gained,
the needs for further action on DRLs and their use in the optimisation of radiation protection of paediatric patients.
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An Expert Advisory Panel made up by representatives of national and international organizations.
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Interaction with the Working Party on Medical Exposures of the Article 31 Group of Experts of the EURATOM Treaty during the project lifetime for feedback on the work performed.
Work programme
The project’s work includes three major tasks:
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Development of European Guidelines on diagnostic reference levels for paediatric imaging covering plain radiography,
fluoroscopy,
CT,
IR procedures and as far as possible,
examinations using mobile equipment,
e.g.
on neonates (Work Package 1)
-
Deciding on European DRLs for the main paediatric imaging procedures,
involving plain radiography,
fluoroscopy,
CT,
IR and as far as possible,
examinations using mobile equipment,
e.g.
on neonates (Work Package 2)
-
Organisation of a European workshop to discuss the results of the first two tasks and the need for further action on DRLs and optimisation of radiation protection of paediatric patients (Work Package 3).
The workshop took place in Lisbon/Portugal on October 15-17,
2015.