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Patients undergoing recurrent CT imaging: managing cumulative doses
Moderator: Jenia Vassileva (IAEA)
Presenter: Madan Rehani (IOMP)
Date of broadcast: 16 March 2021, 2 pm CET
Organized jointly with the International Organization for Medical Physics
About the webinar
Computed tomography (CT) and other diagnostic imaging and image-guided interventional procedures provide immense benefits for the diagnosis and management of many health conditions. The benefits far outweigh the radiation risks when the procedure is performed when required for the clinical care of the patient and with the minimum necessary exposure to achieve the diagnostic or interventional objective.
However, the risks increase when a patient undergoes recurrent imaging procedures involving ionizing radiation, from which some organs might accumulate higher doses in the range where epidemiologists believe there is increased probability of radiation-related adverse effects (particularly cancer).
Information made available from the wider use of automatic radiation exposure monitoring systems shows that the number of patients who accumulate effective doses of 100 mSv and higher over a few years as a result of recurrent CT procedures is greater than previously known. A study in which the IAEA has been involved estimated that this might concern nearly one million patients globally per year. The webinar will present the current knowledge on recurrent imaging and actions proposed at the IAEA Technical Meetings on radiation protection of patients undergoing recurrent imaging in 2019 and 2020. .
Learning objectives
- Learn the level of recurrent CT imaging and associated radiation doses as per recent studies and global estimates and why this is of concern for radiation protection;
- Understand which clinical conditions and patient groups are more likely to accumulate relatively high doses from recurrent imaging;
- Learn how individual patient’s radiation exposure history tracking adds patient management and what is the metrics;
- Appreciate the need for the further development of strategies to improve radiation protection of patients undergoing recurrent medical imaging procedures.
About the presenter
Madan M. Rehani
Dr Madan M. Rehani is the Director of Global Outreach for Radiation Protection at the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, USA. He is also the President of the International Organization for Medical Physics (2018–2021). He worked previously as a Radiation Safety Specialist at the International Atomic Energy Agency for 11 years and as a Professor and the Head of Medical Physics at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in New Delhi, India. Dr Rehani is a Member of the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP). He is a co-author of eight Annals of the ICRP, four of which he served as Chair of the Task Group. He is a senior editor at the British Journal of Radiology and an associate editor of Medical Physics. He has published more than 155 papers and 39 book chapters and has edited five books.