Table 2 Highlighting the initial topics selected by the Dosimetry for Imaging in Clinical Practice Working Group and the agreed priorities for these topics as outlined in the paper ‘Harmonisation of imaging dosimetry in clinical practice: practical approaches and guidance from the ESR EuroSafe Imaging initiative’
From: ESR EuroSafe Imaging and its role in promoting radiation protection – 6 years of success
Topic | Agreed priority/response |
|---|---|
Information on patient exposure for patients | The preferred option for the majority of experts was to inform on “the dose values and units, reported by the X-ray system” |
Individual optimisation | The majority of experts highlighted the following aspect “Consider patient and staff doses for interventional procedures” |
Accidental and unintended exposures | All the experts agreed with the following priority “If suspected an accidental or unintended exposure, record and analyse the dose parameters (based on physical quantities) and produce a report for the quality assurance committee” |
Dosimetric trigger levels (for individual procedures) | All the experts agreed with the following priority “Trigger levels should be established for interventional procedures to alert on the risk of potential skin injuries” |
Comparison with Diagnostic Reference Levels (DRLs) | All the experts agreed with the following priority “The comparison with DRLs should be made at least, once per year and after changes in the X-ray unit or in the imaging protocols” |
Role of the dose registry and management systems | All the experts agreed with the following priority “These systems should allow fulfilling the regulatory requirements (directive 2013/59/EURATOM) on patient dose registration” |
Dosimetric information for the practitioner | All the experts agreed that the practitioner should have information on the physical quantities offered by the X-ray system for the different imaging modalities |
Dosimetric information for the referrer | For this question, there was no agreement between the experts for the options offered (physical dosimetric quantities, effective doses, or diagnostic reference levels). This aspect would need further discussion |