Program Information
Medical Physicists' Implication in Diagnostic CT in Switzerland: Results of After One Year of Experience
N. Ryckx*, C. Elandoy , J. Bize , F.R. Verdun , Lausanne University Hospital, Lausanne, VD
Presentations
SU-E-I-90 Sunday 3:00PM - 6:00PM Room: Exhibit HallPurpose:
Since January 1st 2008, the Swiss ordinance on radiation protection requires the involvement of a medical physicist to support the optimization process of medical imaging techniques using ionizing radiation. After a long process of implementation, this requirement is satisfied all over the country since the beginning of 2013. The goal of this contribution is to summarize the main results obtained in this first year of experience in CT.
Methods:
We assessed the output and clinical use of 45 CT units using a three-pronged approach. First, we assessed the output of the device (CTDIvol, primary beam collimation and HU in water at different tube tensions). Secondly, we characterized the local chest and abdomen acquisition and reconstruction protocols using the Catphan 600 phantom. Lastly, we assessed the clinical use of the machine by analyzing an extract of a dozen clinical examinations per unit.
Results:
9 out of 45 units had incorrect collimator settings, e.g. 4mm instead of 1mm. We witnessed also a large spread in reconstruction parameters, especially for reconstructed slice thickness, thus showing notable variations in low contrast detectability performances. Clinical practice is also clearly spread out. For example, estimated patient effective dose per abdomen examination lies at 18.7+/-12.7mSv (min: 2.0mSv – max: 112.0mSv). Chest and brain scans have a narrower dispersion, but patient effective dose is also spread by about a factor of 10 to 20.
Conclusion:
The spread in clinical practice being fairly large, it appears of crucial importance to collaborate more closely with radiologists and technologists to assess it. The lack of statistical precision will imply that we analyze clinical practice according to a specific medical demand rather than an anatomical region. Furthermore, low contrast sensitivity (LCD) being a crucial parameter, an objective method using a model observer will be used to assess LCD.
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