Congress:
EuroSafe Imaging 2019
Keywords:
Action 7 - Radiation protection of children, Action 8 - Radiation protection training and learning material, Action 13 - Stakeholder engagement and collaboration, Paediatric, Radioprotection / Radiation dose, Nuclear medicine conventional, Radiation safety, Health policy and practice, Education, Education and training, Quality assurance
Authors:
F. Fahey, S. T. Treves, M. Goske, M. Gelfand, M. Parisi, M. Lassmann, B. Sexton-Stallone
DOI:
10.26044/esi2019/ESI-0058
Background/introduction
Nuclear medicine is a well-established and valuable clinical diagnostic tool in several areas of medicine including urology,
neurology,
orthopedics,
and oncology (1).
While the radiation exposure from nuclear medicine studies is on par,
and often even lower,
than that of other medical imaging procedures it is still prudent to limit the amount of radiation exposure from nuclear medicine imaging procedures to the lowest amount possible without reducing diagnostic capability.
This is particularly relevant in children,
as their developing tissues may be more sensitive to the effects of ionizing radiation (2). It is also essential to be prepared to communicate the potential benefits as well as the risks of the procedure with our patients and their families (3).
The Image Gently Alliance was formed in 2007 to help change practice and raise awareness about radiation exposure from medical imaging.
This effort included the dissemination of free educational materials to patients,
parents and healthcare providers.
“The mission of the Image Gently Alliance is,
through advocacy,
to improve safe and effective imaging care of children worldwide.”
During the past decade,
the Nuclear Medicine Working Group (Fig 1) of the Image Gently Alliance has been working towards the optimization of nuclear medicine imaging in children.
The Working Group comprised of physicians,
physicists and technologists working in pediatric nuclear medicine assembled to initially address the wide variability of the practice at the time. A 2007 survey of dedicated pediatric hospitals in North America demonstrated an average variation of a factor of 3 regarding the administered activity per body mass (MBq/kg) and a factor of 10 for the minimum administered activity (4). This effort was also supported by the Society of Nuclear Medicine (now the Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging),
the Society of Pediatric Radiology and the American College of Radiology. The goal at the time was to monitoring current practices in pediatric nuclear medicine in North America and,
if necessary,
to develop and disseminating guidelines to assist in the standardization of the practice.