Journal of medical imaging and radiation oncology
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J Med Imaging Radiat Oncol · Aug 2016
Comparative StudySPECT-CT/VQ versus CTPA for diagnosing pulmonary embolus and other lung pathology: Pre-existing lung disease should not be a contraindication.
Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography-Ventilation-Perfusion (SPECT-VQ) with low-dose CT (SPECT-CT/VQ) has equivalent diagnostic accuracy to CTPA for diagnosing pulmonary embolus (PE) while using lower radiation doses, but is underutilized owing to perceived inaccuracy of scintigraphy in the setting of pre-existing lung disease. This study assesses the accuracy of SPECT-CT/VQ compared with CTPA for the diagnosis of PE, including in patients with pre-existing lung disease. ⋯ SPECT-CT/VQ has high sensitivity and specificity for diagnosing PE compared with CTPA, even among patients with pre-existing lung disease, with lower radiation doses.
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J Med Imaging Radiat Oncol · Aug 2016
Diagnostic reference levels for common paediatric fluoroscopic examinations performed at a dedicated paediatric Australian hospital.
Diagnostic reference levels (DRL) of procedures involving ionising radiation are important tools for optimising radiation doses delivered to patients and to identify cases where the levels of dose are unusually high. This is particularly important for paediatric patients undergoing fluoroscopic examinations as these examinations can be associated with a high radiation dose. In this study, a large amount of paediatric fluoroscopic data has been analysed to: establish local DRL, identify the most significant factors determining radiation dose to patients, and modify fluoroscopic techniques to optimise the examination protocols. ⋯ The dose delivered to patients depend on a number of factors particularly the experience of the operators. However, DRL are also important, as shown in this study, as they enable best practice by providing feedback to the operators on their performance and benchmarking the institution with other institutions.
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J Med Imaging Radiat Oncol · Aug 2016
Diagnostic reference levels of paediatric computed tomography examinations performed at a dedicated Australian paediatric hospital.
Diagnostic Reference Levels (DRL) of procedures involving ionizing radiation are important tools to optimizing radiation doses delivered to patients and in identifying cases where the levels of doses are unusually high. This is particularly important for paediatric patients undergoing computed tomography (CT) examinations as these examinations are associated with relatively high-dose. ⋯ The derivation of DRL has given us the tool to evaluate and improve the performance of our CT service by improved compliance and a reduction in radiation dose to our paediatric patients. We have also been able to benchmark our performance with similar national and international institutions.