Radiation Protection of Patients

Published Date: 24 April 2009

State-of-the-art radiology technology on display at the 2009 European Congress of Radiology (ECR). The annual event organized by the European Society of Radiology allows radiologists, scientists, research centres, international organizations and companies to exchange knowledge and present the latest technical developments in the field of radiology. Held at the Austria Centre, Vienna, Austria, from 6-10 March, ECR 2009 saw the participation of over 18 000 experts from over 90 countries.© D. Calma/IAEA The X ray output is being measured. (Allgemeines Krankenhaus, Vienna, Austria,26 September 2006)© D. Calma/IAEA Non-ionizing radiation is a second type of radiation, but which does not have enough energy to ionize atoms or molecules. Therefore, it does not have the power to completely remove an electron from an atom or molecule. Instead of producing charged ions when passing through matter, the electromagnetic radiation has sufficient energy only for excitation, the movement of an electron to a higher energy state. Some examples of non-ionizing radiation are near ultraviolet, visible light, infrared, microwave, and radio waves. Non-ionizing radiation is also used in medical applications such as Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), a medical imaging technique that uses powerful magnetic fields to produce images of functions and structures in the body. A head phantom is being aligned in the CT gantry. (Allgemeines Krankenhaus, Vienna, Austria,26 September 2006)© D. Calma/IAEA A radiographer positions a patient before taking a spiral CT scan. (Allgemeines Krankenhaus, Vienna, Austria,26 September 2006)© D. Calma/IAEA