Ukrainian Experts Participated in International Forums on Dosimetry

This year, representatives of the Grigoriev Institute for Medical Radiology of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine attended two events significant for radiation dosimetry. The first event is the International Conference on Dosimetry and Its Applications (ICDA-3), which was held at the National Technical University of Lisbon in Portugal on 27-31 May 2019.

The Conference was devoted to the results of dosimetry studies. The scientists, physicists, chemists, engineers and other experts on dosimetry discussed the methods for dosimetric measurements of radiation in various fields.

In addition to the usual issues of computer dosimetry, arrangement of radiation protection, dosimetry in case of medical irradiation and study of low-dose radiation effects in radiobiology, the most relevant hot dosimetry topics were considered: use of nanodosimetry, dosimetry during proton therapy and in intervention radiology, arrangement of dosimetric measurements under conditions of emergency preparedness and response to possible nuclear accidents.

Vassileve, IAEA expert, informed that IAEA increased its focus on radiation safety of patients during medical exposure. Despite introduction of new digital technologies into the medical practice, doses of patients in intervention radiology procedures and in computer tomography are constantly increasing, as is the number of complex high-dose studies, which leads to the increase in the collective dose of the world’s population through medical diagnostic studies and increase in radiation risks for the occurrence of additional cases of oncological diseases. In some developed countries, this issue is one of the most relevant in the sphere of radiation protection, although the radiation risk from CT-scans is already above the acceptable level. Moreover, there are often cases of emergency exposure of patients, especially during intervention radiology procedures. This is mainly due to the human errors because of insufficient qualification level, inadequate training of experts on radiation safety, absence of permanent systems for improvement of expert qualification at the national level.

The representative of Ukraine from the Grigoriev Institute for Medical Radiology presented a report on the “Monitoring of Individual Dose of Medical Personnel in Ukraine”. It covered the results of centralized individual dosimetric control of medical personnel in Ukraine over the past 25 years. For the majority of medical personnel groups (95-98%), annual doses are less than 2 mSv. Professional groups with the highest doses in medicine are radiomanipulation experts and keepers who prepare the applicators for intracavitary manual insertion, manipulation nurses of nuclear medicine departments (radionuclide therapy and diagnostics) and personnel of intervention radiology departments.

The second event was the International Symposium on Standards, Applications and Quality Assurance in Medical Radiation Dosimetry (IDOS2019) carried out at IAEA office in Vienna (Austria) on 18-21 June 2019.

The Symposium was arranged for the wide range of experts: medical physicists and scientists working in radiation dosimetry area and dealing with such issues as radiation metrology and standardization, radiation therapy using an external beams of photons, electrons, light ions, brachytherapy, intervention and diagnostic radiology (including computer tomography, mammography), nuclear medicine (radionuclide therapy and diagnostics), radiation protection dosimetry.

The main objective of the Symposium was to discuss and share achievements over the past ten years, exchange scientific knowledge in the sphere of radiation dosimetry, radiation medicine, radiation protection and related standards.

The Symposium consisted of training courses, plenary and topical sessions, oral, poster presentations and roundtables on the relevant issues:

  • developments in the area of dosimetry standards;
  • quality and standards of radiation and dosimetric measurements in diagnostic radiology and radiotherapy;
  • reference dosimetry in brachytherapy, diagnostic radiology and in nuclear medicine;
  • clinical dosimetry in radiodiagnosis, radiotherapy and in carrying out diagnostic and therapeutic procedures of nuclear medicine;
  • radiation protection dosimetry;
  • dosimetry of beams of protons and light ions in radiation therapy;
  • use of new types of detectors in dosimetry;
  • microdosimetry, nanodosimetry and others.

“Accurate measurements in radiation dosimetry are vital for the medical use of radiation and to ensure radiation safety of patients, employees and the general public when using radiation sources in medicine and industry”, Najat Mokhtar, IAEA Deputy Directors General, stated during the plenary session.

The Symposium provided an opportunity for the hospital representatives and researchers to meet with scientists from dosimetric laboratories of primary and secondary standards, consider the dosimetric procedure and exchange ideas for new developments in the field.

The representatives of the Grigoriev Institute for Medical Radiology presented three reports:

“Using the National Diagnostic Reference Levels for Estimation of Effective and Equivalent Organ Doses of Patients in Conventional Diagnostic Radiology”;

“Assessment of Collective Effective, Equivalent Organ Doses and Radiation Risks for Ukrainian Population Due to Conventional X-Ray Diagnostic Examinations”; 

“Analysis of Results of National and IAEA/WHO Dosimetry Quality Audit in Radiotherapy Departments of Ukraine: Problems and Prospects for Improvement”.

The proceedings of the Conference may be found via links:

ICDA3 та IDOS2019