Journal of Radiological Protection : Official Journal of the Society for Radiological Protection

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

The escalating incidence of differentiated thyroid cancer (DTC) in pediatric patients and the resultant growing use of radioactive iodine (RAI) reinforce the need to evaluate radiation exposure to normal tissues and radiation-induced health risks in pediatric patients undergoing RAI therapy. In the current study, we calculated absorbed dose coefficients (i.e. absorbed dose per unit activity administered, mGy MBq-1) specific for pediatric patients with localized differentiated thyroid cancer undergoing RAI therapy following total thyroidectomy for use in epidemiological studies...

In the medical and nuclear fields, there are environments where exposure to photons with energies above several MeV can result in problems. The National Metrology Institute of Japan has developed a high-energy photon field using a 15 MeV electron beam of a clinical linear accelerator with a copper target and an aluminum filter unit to facilitate dosimeter calibration in terms of air kerma. To determine the air kerma rate, the energy fluence distribution at a reference point was calculated, and both calculations and experiments evaluated the effective energy and spatial dose distribution...

In standard monoenergetic ISO neutron fields, the neutron yield of neutron-producing reactions was measured in combination with the prompt photon yield, including photon energies up to 10 MeV, for the purpose of comparing the two yields. Separating the photons produced by the target (direct photons) from those generated by secondary neutron reactions was achieved using the time-of-flight method. Photon and neutron ambient dose equivalent values were calculated from measured spectral energy distributions. Quasi monoenergetic neutron fields are needed to systematically test the response of measuring instruments to neutron radiation...

An increasing number of radiopharmaceuticals and proteins are available for diagnosing and treating various diseases. The demand for existing and newly developed pharmaceutical radionuclides and proteins is steadily increasing. The radiation exposure levels of workers in the radiopharmaceutical industry and nuclear medicine field are closely monitored, specifically their effective dose and equivalent dose, leading to the question, of whether the dawn of radiopharmaceuticals affects the occupational exposure level...

Interventional Radiology (IR) deals with the diagnosis and treatment of various diseases through medically guided imaging. It provides unquestionable benefits to patients, but requires, in many cases, the use of high doses of ionizing radiation with a high impact on radiation risks to patients and to overall dose to the population. The International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) introduced Diagnostic Reference Levels (DRLs) as an effective tool to facilitate dose verification and optimize protection for patients undergoing radiological procedures...

This study investigates radiographers' views on implementing dose-reduction measures, with a focus on verifying patient identity and pregnancy status, practising gonad shielding in men and using compression. An electronic questionnaire was distributed to radiographers working in general radiography and/or computed tomography. The questionnaire was based on factors from a framework for analysing risk and safety in clinical medicine. Ordered logistic regressions were used to analyse associations among factors and use of dose-reduction measures...

This study assesses the efficacy of Generative Pre-Trained Transformers (GPT) published by OpenAI in the specialized domains of radiological protection and health physics. Utilizing a set of 1064 surrogate questions designed to mimic a health physics certification exam, we evaluated the models' ability to accurately respond to questions across five knowledge domains. Our results indicated that neither model met the 67% passing threshold, with GPT-3.5 achieving a 45.3% weighted average and GPT-4 attaining 61...

Cancer is a major health challenge and causes millions of deaths worldwide each year, and the incidence of lung cancer has increased. Augmented fluoroscopic bronchoscopy (AFB) procedures, which combine bronchoscopy and fluoroscopy, are crucial for diagnosing and treating lung cancer. However, fluoroscopy exposes patients and physicians to radiation, and therefore, the procedure requires careful monitoring. The National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurement and the International Commission on Radiological Protection have emphasized the importance of monitoring patient doses and ensuring occupational radiation safety...

One of the requirements of the UK Ionising Radiation (Medical Exposure) Regulations 2017 is that all medical exposures must be justified, in that the benefit must have been determined to exceed the risk before the exposure can proceed. The field of medical exposure to ionising radiation is in the rare position of having this explicit legal requirement. In this article it is argued that, although separate information on benefit and risk is also required for implied or express informed consent prior to exposure, justification happens independently of this, is simple to explain, and is easily related to the commonly understood basis of medical ethics...

This study aims to assess the image quality (IQ) of 12 mammographic units and to identify units with potential optimization needs. Data for 350 mammography examinations meeting inclusion criteria were collected retrospectively from April 2021 to April 2022. They were categorized based on the medical reports into 10 normal cases, 10 cases displaying calcifications and 10 cases presenting lesions. Two radiologists assessed the IQ of 1400 mammograms, evaluating system performance per Boita et al.'s study and positioning performance following European guidelines...

Veterans of the British nuclear testing programme represent a population of ex-military personnel who had the potential to be exposed to ionising radiation through their participation at nuclear testing sites in the 1950s and 1960s. In the intervening years, members of this population have raised concerns about the status of their health and that of their descendants, as a consequence. Radiation dose estimates based on film badge measurements of external dose recorded at the time of the tests suggest any exposure to be limited for the majority of personnel, however, only ∼20% of personnel were monitored and no measurement for internalised exposure are on record...

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

In nuclear disaster prevention, it is essential not only to make daily efforts to prevent accidents from occurring but also to properly apply lessons learned from actual disasters. Although significant changes have been made to nuclear disaster preparedness in Japan since the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant accident, there is insufficient information on whether these changes have been evaluated as practical and appropriate for the needs of the Japanese public. In this survey, 20 officials of the Cabinet Office and Japan Atomic Energy Agency, in charge of planning nuclear disaster prevention policy, were asked to evaluate the current nuclear disaster prevention plan, compare it with that before the accident, and indicate what elements are lacking in the current plan in the form of a questionnaire...

An anonymous web-based survey was developed to check different aspects (SHAMISEN SINGS project): stakeholder awareness and perceptions of available mobile applications (apps) for measuring ionising radiation doses and health/well-being indicators; whether they would be ready to use them in the post-accidental recovery; and what are their preferred methodologies to acquire information etc. The results show that participation of the citizens would be most beneficial during post-accident recovery, providing individual measurements of external ionizing dose and health/well-being parameters, with possible follow-up...

Justification of medical radiation exposure is one of the main elements of radiation protection for patients. For a medical exposure to proceed, the benefit from the procedure must have been determined to be greater than the detriment. It is rare, however, that justification can be stated quantitatively as a ratio of benefit to detriment, or as a net benefit, and this is particularly true for medical diagnostic exposures associated with non-fatal diseases where survival statistics do not apply. The concept of the disability-adjusted life year (DALY) is well established as a measure of disease severity in public health, and there have been calls to revise the international system of radiation protection dosimetry to employ the DALY as a measure of radiation detriment...

To determine the eye lens dose (3 mm dose equivalent [Hp(3)]) received by spine surgeons during myelography and evaluate the effectiveness of radiation-protective glasses and X-ray tube system positioning in reducing radiation exposure.

Methods: This study included spine surgeons who performed myelography using over- or under-table X-ray tube systems. Hp(3) was measured for each examination using a radio-photoluminescence glass dosimeter (GD-352M) mounted on radiation-protective glass. 

Results: This study identified significantly high Hp(3) levels, especially in the right eye lens in spinal surgeons...

The diagnostic reference level (DRL) is an effective tool for optimizing protection in medical exposures to patients. However, regarding air kerma at the patient entrance reference point ( K a,r ), one of the DRL quantities for endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP), manufacturers use a variety of the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) and their own specific definitions of the reference point. The research question for this study was whether K a,r is appropriate as a DRL quantity for ERCP...