AbstractID: 2639 Title: Evaluation and Consulting On Patient Dose In Diagnostic Imaging
One of the responsibilities of a clinical medical physicist in diagnostic imaging is to
provide both dose and risk information about x-ray examinations. This is required for
several reasons including advising medical staff of the doses and risks associated with
specific examinations, consulting with institutional review boards (IRBs) relative to
research uses of radiation, and determining specific organ doses such as uterine or fetal
doses to assist in medical decision making.
In order to provide dose and risk estimates four types of information are necessary
including: 1) patient entrance skin exposures; 2) specific organ doses based on these
exposures; 3) effective dose which is calculated based upon specific organ doses; and
4) estimation of risk based upon the effective dose. Unfortunately, there is no concise
source of the information regarding doses and risk so it is necessary to have access to and
knowledge of the sources that are available. This refresher course will provide an
overview of resources and methods for determining patient risk from ionizing radiation in
medical imaging. Several examples will be provided showing how doses and risks can
be reduced easily and inexpensively for both clinical and research applications.