Congress:
EuroSafe Imaging 2018
Keywords:
Diagnostic procedure, CT, Radioprotection / Radiation dose, Action 5 - Performance indicators for radiation protection management, Action 8 - Radiation protection training and learning material, Action 2 - Clinical diagnostic reference levels (DRLs), Action 9 - Development of criteria for safe imaging procedures, Action 6 - Education and training in medical radiation protection, Action 3 - Optimisation, diagnostic reference levels, image quality, Dosimetry, Radiation safety, Quality assurance
Authors:
C. Ansón Marcos, P. Garcia Castañon, A. Viñals Muñoz, P. Rodriguez Carnero, M. L. España Lopez, D. Hernández González
DOI:
10.1594/esi2018/ESI-0058
Background/introduction
As part of optimization principle in medical exposures,
Euratom Directive) highlights the importance of Quality Assurance (QA) programmes and assessment of patient doses in diagnostic radiology.
Within QA framework,
patient dosimetry plays a crucial role since it may represent an indicator to evaluate the optimization of protection in a radiology department.
Computed tomography (CT) is nowadays widely used in radiology because of its fast performance and high quality diagnostic images.
Nevertheless,
radiation doses associated with CT examinations are relatively high,
so the dose optimization to patients is a priority while maintaining the diagnostic image quality.
This is achieved by means of modulation technology,
reconstructions algorithms and scanning parameters.
Additionally,
a systematic monitoring of the radiological examinations and tracking of patient doses represent an effective method for that purpose.
The introduction,
during last years,
of automated dose tracking software,
has facilitated monitoring and recording the scanning information of every CT examination.
With regard of patient safety,
these systems allow to set alarm levels for the detection and analysis of unusual doses in individual patients.
The aim of this study is to evaluate the CT dose data from a dose management online system,
for reporting and managing unusual patient doses as a critical aspect of the radiology department QA programme,
in order to set improvement actions.