Congress:
EuroSafe Imaging 2017
Keywords:
Radiation safety, Digital radiography, CT, Cone beam CT, Radioprotection / Radiation dose, Action 5 - Performance indicators for radiation protection management, Action 9 - Facilitation of research in advanced topics of radiation protection, Action 2 - Clinical diagnostic reference levels (DRLs), Action 9 - Development of criteria for safe imaging procedures, Action 7 - Medical radiation protection research: MELODI, EURAMED, Action 3 - Optimisation, diagnostic reference levels, image quality, Technical aspects, Education and training, Quality assurance
Authors:
W. Stiller, R. W. Loose, C. Hoeschen, K. Katsari, L. Oleaga Zufiría, D. Tsetis, C. Granata, S. Schindera, J. Damilakis, D. Tack, L. Rainford
DOI:
10.1594/esi2017/ESI-0054
Description of activity and work performed
Main Task:
- Identification of an indication-based set of adequate standardized criteria for judging the “appropriateness” of image quality for a certain CT imaging task
Current Activities & Ongoing Work:
- Composition of a group of experts from within the network of organ-based subspecialty societies of radiology (currently CIRSE,
ESGAR,
ESPR,
ESSR,
and ESTI) and experts from EFRS,
from one of the largest European diagnostic service providers,
as well as from ESR’s Radiation Protection Subcommittee
-
Information exchange with the EuroSafe Imaging Subgroup on Clinical Diagnostic Reference Levels
-
Identification of 3-5 clinically most relevant indication-based CT examinations per subspecialty (ongoing)
Future Work & Main Challenge:
-
Establishment of connections between qualitative clinical image quality criteria as identified by expert consensus per indication to measurable quantitative image quality criteria,
i.e.
to metrics such as spatial resolution,
low-contrast detectability,
image noise,
etc.
-
Open Issues:
-
Validity of quantitative metrics for assessing indication-based qualitative image quality criteria derived from clinical practice
-
Usability/adaptation of objective measures of image quality already available
-
Accessibility of quantitative image quality metrics for determining “appropriateness” in clinical use/translation into clinical practice
Activities at the European Congress of Radiology – ECR 2017:
Aims:
-
Inform about ongoing efforts as part of the EuroSafe Imaging campaign
-
Disseminate knowledge about qualitative and quantitative image quality criteria and about methods for their assessment in diagnostic imaging
-
Raise general awareness of the topic of the appropriateness of image quality and its interrelation with radiation exposure (for imaging modalities relying on the use of ionizing radiation,
e.g.
CT)