Physica Medica 32 (2016) 194–195

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Physica Medica
journal homepage: http://www.physicamedica.com

Abstracts from the 1st European Congress of Medical Physics: Invited Lectures
Metropolitan HoteljAegean Sea Ballroom (Hall B) - September 4th, 2016

QUALITY CONTROL PROGRAM OF X-RAY MAMMOGRAPHY to excessive CT radiation exposure, as well as its relation to elevated
Nabil Iqeilan, Huda M. Al-Naemi. Hamad Medical Corporation, P.O. risk of radiation induced cancer are reported in the media. All these
Box: 3050, Doha, Qatar clearly point to the critical need for ongoing quality control (QC) and
cautious relation of radiation dose and image quality. An extensive
To maintain high quality in mammography, a routine quality con-
review of the latest routine QC tests will be presented, based on
trol program is necessary to detect drifting or degradation of system
the most recent publications, starting from more simple tests that
performance overtime and it is becoming more important especially
can be easily performed by a radiation technologist to the more com-
when the machine is used for population screening, a large number
plex ones that must be executed and analysed by a medical
of asymptomatic women will receive a large amount of dose. There-
physicist.
fore, the importance of optimization of image quality and minimiza-
tion of radiation dose is essential to accomplish the goals of http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ejmp.2016.07.346
mammography screening, and this require to have and make sure
that the Mammography X-ray machine working properly and stable.
Due to advances in technology, the regulation and testing of digi-
tal mammography systems has become complicated. Not only does RADIATION INCIDENTS AND ACCIDENTS IN DIAGNOSTIC RADIO-
each mammographic X-ray unit model have its own test protocol, LOGY. WHAT TO DO NEXT IN CT
peripheral equipment must also be tested according to manufacturer Mahadevappa Mahesh. Professor of Radiology and Cardiology, Johns
specifications. And this program must be followed in detail by both Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21287, USA
physicists testing the device and other clinical users performing rou-
Radiation incidents in diagnostic radiology are rare and may not
tine QC functions on a daily basis.
be as life threatening as in radiation oncology, yet it is equally
In this lecture the Mammography QC testing program will be dis-
important to devise plans of action to address radiation incidents
cussed and recent advances in the automation of QC measurements
in diagnostic radiology. This talk will discuss various measures med-
by some manufacturers will be highlighted.
ical physicists can do to address such situations with focus on CT
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ejmp.2016.07.345
studies.
Radiation incidents can lead to deterministic effects such as hair-
loss or skin erythema, which are rare but possible due to prolonged
fluoroscopy procedures or CT scans (CT perfusion studies) due to
QUALITY CONTROL IN COMPUTED TOMOGRAPHY incorrect settings. When radiation incidents occur, a physicist can
Virginia Tsapaki. Konstantopoulio General Hospital, Athens, Greece do the following.
First, physicist should record details of scan settings that have led
Computed Tomography (CT) is considered as one of the most
to the radiation incident. Next, assess and make necessary changes
important imaging techniques of modern times. The introduction
to avoid future incidents. This should be followed by detail assess-
of multi-detector CT (MDCT) with sub second acquisition and CT
ment of radiation exposure to patients (skin dose and organ dose)
fluoroscopy have further advanced CT applications by enabling inter-
and work with the radiologists and other physicians to address the
ventional radiological (IR) procedures which were traditionally per-
radiation events.
formed using C-arm machines. CT use is extended to CT fluoroscopy,
Further, medical physicists can take precautions to avoid such
angiography, cardiac CT, screening, multi-phase dynamic CT, urogra-
incidents in future. Recently introduced ‘CT Dose Alert’ can be custo-
phy and other applications. Due to the shorter MDCT scanning times,
mized for each CT protocol such that incorrect settings that could
increasing number of patients receive repeat CT examinations espe-
lead to unintended high radiation exposure can be flagged prior to
cially in the oncology and emergency departments of hospitals. The
CT scan. This presentation will discuss in detail about the CT dose
development of hybrid systems such as PET/CT, SPECT/CT, CT simu-
alert and CT dose notifications, which are key to avoid unintended
lators in radiotherapy and its incorporation in CT planning and dose
radiation exposure to patients undergoing CT studies.
delivery systems, progressed CT from the domain of diagnostic radi-
ology to other specialities. Although vendors have invested time and http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ejmp.2016.07.347
exhausting efforts in development of radiation dose optimization
techniques, contribution of CT to patient radiation dose continues
to increase. Furthermore, growing number of adverse events related