Aplicación de la Directiva 2013/59 EURATOM en procedimientos pediátricos de radiología digital y cardiología intervencionista

Resumen

On the 17th of January 2014, the European Union published in its official journal the new 2013/59 EURATOM directive, which was to be transposed to the national laws of the member countries before February 6, 2018. Since then, the scientific community related to Radiation Protection in medicine in general, and the departments of medical physics in particular, have studied the directive’s implications and consequences, adapting it in many cases to the specific hospital setting in which the activity is conducted. The 3 main developments in the radiology setting included in the directive were 1) reducing the limit of the equivalent dose for the lens of the eye of exposed workers from 150 mSv to 20 mSv per year, which covers the recommendation by the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) in its April 2011 statement; 2) the registration of parameters related to the patients´medical exposures and the inclusion of these data in the radiological report,determining the distribution of the dose indicators and the regular review and use of diagnostic reference levels (DRLs), at least by age range, in order to conduct dosimetric optimisation processes without delay when necessary; 3) the broadening and specification of the responsibilities of medical physicists (also called “radiofísico hospitalario” in Spain) in special radiological procedures, which include screening programs, computed tomography, paediatric medical exposures and radiology and cardiology interventional procedures, that can involve patient exposure to high doses of radiation...