Congress:
EuroSafe Imaging 2016
Keywords:
Action 9 - Development of criteria for safe imaging procedures, Action 8 - EuroSafe Imaging Stars network and data collection, Action 3 - Optimisation, diagnostic reference levels, image quality, Action 2 - Clinical diagnostic reference levels (DRLs), Action 10 - EuroSafe Imaging Stars, Action 5 - Performance indicators for radiation protection management
Authors:
E. Quaia, P. Bregant, A. Gennari, G. Poillucci, M. De Denaro, M. A. Cova
DOI:
10.1594/esi2016/ESI-0041
Background/Introduction
The current Italian law on radiation protection forces continuous assessment of patient’s dose and development of programs to improve diagnostic exams,
especially for computed tomography (CT) and angiography.
The effectiveness of these programs is monitored by biennial audit of Diagnostic Levels Reference (LDR).
The 2013/59 Euratom directive,
published and implemented in Italy on December 5th 2013 [1],
further strengthens this approach stating that doses of medical procedures must be recorded and reported to patients.
Therefore,
accurate evaluation of dosimetry indicators for each diagnostic and interventional procedures is mandatory and requires appropriate software support.
Many software are available and range from home-made developed software to open-source to commercial products.
The common aim is to build a database of dose data which allows to monitor patient dose exposure and to provide support to the technical optimization process.
One of the first software proposed in Italy was DoseWatch from General Electric (GE Healthcare,
Chalfont St Giles,
UK).
Dose Watch was installed from several months at Institute of Radiology at Cattinara Hospital.
Data of approximately 13000 CT scans and 600 interventional procedures were collected as part of a pilot study.
The aims of this pilot study were: 1) to evaluate software advantages and critical issues; 2) to evaluate the level of scan standardization; 3) to identify the dose indicators for the most performed exams in comparison with the available LDRs; 4) to ensure a continued dose optimization program.