The European Coordination Committee of the Radiological, Electromedical, and Healthcare IT Industry (COCIR) and the Heads of the European Radiological Protection Competent Authorities (HERCA) have joined forces to reduce patient radiation exposure from CT.
The work is being carried out through voluntary commitments developed by COCIR at HERCA's initiative, according to COCIR and HERCA. These include dose reduction and dose optimization features on CT equipment, as well as dose display and export capabilities. In addition, standardized features have been developed to allow institutions to set dose values that should not be exceeded for each protocol.
Because dose measurement and image quality assessment needs to be performed simultaneously, the CT industry is working on the design of reference phantoms for assessing low contrast detectability and the associated dose level, COCIR and HERCA said.
In a statement, HERCA Chairman Sigurdur Magnusson and COCIR Secretary General Nicole Denjoy also said they encourage CT users to use available dose reduction features, dose management tools, and CT manufacturer-provided training. These steps will help to ensure appropriate and effective use of CT imaging equipment with continued dose reduction while maintaining diagnostic image quality, they said.
HERCA and COCIR said they are also committed to extending their collaboration in CT dose reduction and dose management to other important stakeholders in the area of medical radiation protection.
