ARPANSA - Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency

Monitoring Radiation Doses From Diagnostic Radiology

ARPANSA has a responsibility to estimate the radiation doses to the Australian population from radiological procedures. Evaluation of these doses provides valuable baseline information for the optimisation of dose management. The data also allow Australian doses to be compared with those of other countries and for the setting of national diagnostic reference levels (DRLs). The latter are used as indicative benchmarks for comparative radiological practices.

Multidetector computed tomography (MDCT) procedures have become the dominant contributor to the radiation dose to the population from diagnostic radiology. This has come about both because of the increasing number of procedures and the increasing complexity and capacity afforded by modern technology. ARPANSA surveyed radiation doses from MDCT in 1994, 2002 and estimated contemporary doses in 2008 for standard MDCT procedures. In Australia the per head radiation dose from CT for 2002 was approximately 0.8 mSv, in 2008 this has increased to an estimated 1.2 mSv, a growth of 50%. ARPANSA is planning a national web based survey of common MDCT procedures and doses to start in early 2010, which will reflect the dose impact of new MDCT platforms and new types of procedures.

A major aim of the survey is to measure the impact of new technologies and procedures on patient doses in CT. The survey of doses will be put to practical use in the development of national DRLs. They will be available as an indicative measure of reasonable practice with which radiology practices can compare themselves and potentially modify their protocols if required.

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