IAEA Radiation Protection and Safety in Medical Uses of Ionizing Radiation

At a glance

Type of study

Regulation or standard

Who was studied

Interventional cardiologists, Vascular surgeons, Orthopedic surgeons, Urologists, Gastroenterologists, Anesthesia staff, Other physicians, Radiologic technologists, Medical physicists and radiation safety officers, Mixed lab staff, Patients, General population

Topics

Regulation and policyTraining and educationSafety culture and compliancePatient dose

Summary based on

a web page

What it found

• The Safety Guide addresses all three categories of exposure in medical uses, including occupational exposure of health professionals who perform radiological procedures.

• Its scope includes image guided interventional procedures as well as diagnostic radiology, nuclear medicine and radiation therapy.

• The guidance also applies to radiological procedures carried out in other specialties, such as cardiology, vascular surgery, urology, orthopaedic surgery and gastroenterology.

• The guide is written mainly for end-users in medical radiation facilities, including managers, practitioners, technologists, medical physicists and radiation protection officers.

• An estimated 3.6 billion diagnostic and interventional radiological procedures were performed worldwide in 2008, and the number has continued to increase.

  Key figures: 3.6 billion procedures (2008)

Limits to keep in mind

This is an international consensus safety standard, not an empirical study. The available text stops at the introduction, so the specific occupational protection recommendations for interventional procedures (sections 3.51-3.136) were not available.

Related research summaries

• ICRP Draft - Radiological Protection in Fluoroscopically Guided Procedures (Guideline or consensus statement)
• ICRP Publication 117. Radiological Protection In Fluoroscopically Guided Procedures Performed Outside The Imaging Department (2010, Guideline or consensus statement)
• AAPM Medical Physics Practice Guideline 12.a - Fluoroscopy Dose Management (2022, Guideline or consensus statement)
• IU Health Handbook of Fluoroscopy Safety (Guideline or consensus statement)
• Occupational Radiological Protection in Interventional Procedures, ICRP PUBLICATION 139 (2018, Guideline or consensus statement)