RADIOMA Project (IOnizing RADiation in MAmmography): an Italian proposal for the development of an innovative dose index in mammography

Congress:

EuroSafe Imaging 2018

Poster Number:

ESI-0036

Type:

EuroSafe Imaging

Keywords:

Physics, Mammography, Conventional radiography, Radioprotection / Radiation dose, Radiation physics, Breast, Action 13 - Stakeholder engagement and collaboration, Action 3 - Image quality assessment based on clinical indications, Action 2 - Clinical diagnostic reference levels (DRLs), Action 10 - Improved communication and collaboration of health professionals in radiation protection, Action 4 - Quality of radiological equipment, Action 3 - Optimisation, diagnostic reference levels, image quality, Radiation safety, Technical aspects, Dosimetric comparison

Authors:

D. Caramella, G. Aringhieri, C. Sottocornola, M. E. Fantacci, P. Barca, F. Paolicchi, A. C. Traino

DOI:

10.1594/esi2018/ESI-0036

DOI-Link:

https://dx.doi.org/10.1594/esi2018/ESI-0036

Fig. 1: EuroSafe Imaging poster at ECR 2015

Fig. 2: EuroSafe Imaging poster at ECR 2016

Fig. 3: EuroSafe Imaging poster at ECR 2017

Fig. 4: The "Blue Palace" in Pisa

Background/introduction

The University of Pisa has a long-standingexperience in the field of radiation protection. Therefore, it is not surprising that the University of Pisa Radiology team actively participated to all editions of EuroSafe Imaging poster sessions at the ECR, starting in 2015 when we presented the dose monitoring activities on a regional basis carried out together with our PACS vendor (fig. 1). The following year, our focus shifted to the topic of radiation protection awareness, that remains a challenge in this area, notwithstanding the educational efforts...

Description of activity and work performed

The basic safety standards for exposure to ionizing radiation have been updated recently with the publication of the European Directive 59/2013/EURATOM (fig. 5). Chapter VII of the Directive is entirely dedicated to medical applications, and inAnnex II the updated weight tissues factors wT required for the calculation of the effective dose are reported. Compared with the previous Directive 29/1996/EURATOM, the weight factor for breast is increased from 0.05 to 0.12. This is relevant in mammographic screening sincesuch apublic health initiative involves the exposure of a...

Conclusion and recommendations

In the framework of the RADIOMA project, we developed a new mammographic dose index that we named Average Absorbed Breast Dose (2ABD). Such new index can be directly calculated for each type of mammographic procedure as well as for each breast thickness and can be defined as the average value of energy absorbed per unit mass in the breast. It is presented in detail in a paper (fig. 6)recently published in European Radiology Experimental (2017) 1:28. In summary: 2ABD is a suitable, easily measurable physical...

Personal/organisational information

Our multidisciplinary group is composed by Radiologists,Medical Physicists, and Radiographers. These are the institutions involved in the RADIOMA project: - University of Pisa (University Radiologyand Department of Physics): D. Caramella, G. Aringhieri, M.E. Fantacci, P. Barca - University Hospital of Pisa (AOUP): C. Sottocornola, F. Paolicchi, A.C. Traino - National Institute for Nuclear Physics (INFN): M.E. Fantacci, P. Barca, C. Sottocornola - Fondazione Pisa More information is avilable at: - www.rad.unipi.it - www.doseteam4you.com

References

1.Radiation dose exposure in patients affected by lymphoma undergoing repeat CT examinations: how to manage the radiation dose variability. Paolicchi F, Bastiani L, Guido D, Dore A, Aringhieri G, Caramella D. Radiol Med. 2017 Nov 8. doi: 10.1007/s11547-017-0826-7. [Epub ahead of print] PMID: 29119524 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher] 2.Awareness of radiation protection and dose levels of imaging procedures among medical students, radiography students, and radiology residents at an academic hospital: Results of a comprehensive survey. Faggioni L, Paolicchi F, Bastiani L, Guido D,...