Program Information
Investigating the Utility of a Dose Management Software: An Invaluable Tool Or a Speculative Approach ?
A Salametis*, D Niotis , V Tsapaki , Konstantopoulio General Hospital, Nea Ionia, Athens
Presentations
WE-RAM2-GePD-I-3 (Wednesday, August 2, 2017) 10:00 AM - 10:30 AM Room: Imaging ePoster Lounge
Purpose: To evaluate the impact of dose management software in everyday clinical use. Its features and capabilities significance on patients’ dose distribution, separately for each CT protocol and body region, absorbed organ doses, as well as radiographers’ “habits” and outcomes on the radiation dose.
Methods: A dose tracking software (tqm|DOSE, Qaelum, Belgium) was connected to a Philips Brilliance 64 CT scanner in Konstantopoulio General Hospital, Athens, Greece. For each patient, kV, mAs, Field of View (FOV), pitch, collimation, number of slices, number of series, scanogram and radiographer’s name are some from clinical and technical data that are collected. CTDIvol and DLP are the dosimetric quantities collected by the CT unit. Effective and organ doses for each individual patient are then calculated from the software, using factors derived from Monte Carlo simulations.
Results: 5597 patients underwent 5630 CT examinations and were divided in 3 main categories: Chest, Abdomen and Chest/Abdomen/Pelvis CT protocols. CTDIvol, DLP and Effective dose mean values, for each CT protocol, were evaluated, in addition to the contribution of procedures per anatomical region with respect to the Effective dose. Differences between low and high dose patients compared to the median on the whole sample, were identified and methods for dose optimization were investigated.
Conclusion: Through statistical analysis, in respect to every preferable examination quantity, DOSE helped us update our local DRLs, optimize organ and effective doses to patients, improve CT protocols and scan length limitations for each one. While providing us with a constant monitoring of radiographers’ “habits”, room for better practice was found, in order to optimize the delivered radiation, as their efficiency was upraised. DOSE is an all-in-one patient survey tool, as a valuable asset for individualized patient dosimetry and as an administrative effective guide for the personnel in charge.
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