Background/introduction
Medical imaging techniques have rapidly progressed for decades.
Many patients in developed countries can now undergo advanced medical imaging such as computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).
Japan has the highest number of CT scanners per population in the world (Fig.
1) [1].
In addition,
almost all costs of CT examinations are covered by the governmental universal health insurance,
giving patients easy access to the said examinations.
Therefore,
a risk of overutilization of advanced imaging examinations has been a potential problem in Japanese...
Description of activity and work performed
Figure 4 shows the overall structure of Japan Safe Radiology.
In this project,
we are constructing a national database of diagnostic imaging (Japan Medical Imaging database: J-MID) which contains CT and MR images.
We have already started to develop a small-sized system using CT data from six medical institutions all over Japan.
The participating institutions include major hospitals in the country (Kyushu University Hospital,
Juntendo University Hospital,
Okayama University Hospital,
Keio University Hospital,
Osaka University Hospital,
and National center of global health and medicine Kohnodai...
Conclusion and recommendations
We discussed the current status of medical radiation exposure problems in Japan and presented an outline of our attempts to construct a nation-wide DIR as part of the Japan Safe Radiology project.
The J-MID system are expected to help optimize the use of CT in Japan in terms of medical radiation exposure.
Acknowledgements
This project is supported by a grant from Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development,
Grant Number (16lk010020h0001).
Personal/organisational information
Masatoshi Hori; Osaka University
Noriyuki Tomiyama; Osaka University
Kazuhiko Satoh; Osaka University
Hiroshi Honda; Kyushu University
References
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http://www.oecd.org/els/health-systems/health-data.htm [accessed on 8 January 2017].
2) Radiation exposure in living environments,
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Nuclear Safety Research Association.
2011.
[Publication in Japanese]
3) United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation.
Sources and effects of ionizing radiation.
Volume 1 annex B.
2008.
4) ICRP,
1996.
Radiological Protection and Safety in Medicine.
ICRP Publication 73.
Ann.
ICRP 26 (2).
5) Council Directive 97/43/Euratom of 30 June 1997 on health protection of individuals against the dangers of ionizing radiation in...