Group to investigate dose info demands

A stakeholder group is to be convened to identify the information about radiation doses that trusts need to gather automatically, UKRC has been told.

Ian Chell, Department of Health policy manager for ionizing radiation, outlined a cautious approach to the issue of automating dose recording. It would be possible to collect too much data or to collect the wrong data, he explained.

"The main approach will be treading carefully and [taking] measured steps. If we run, we will trip," he said.

The issue of automating radiation dose recording has figured high on the imaging informatics agenda in recent years.

Manual dose recording is seen as a system prone to error, because it requires tedious, lengthy manual transfer to databases, which only produce results in slow-time.

Work already undertaken by Chell and other experts has resulted in a paper offering guidance on radiation dose monitoring.

In particular, trusts are advised to ensure that any picture archiving and communications system or dose analysis software meets interoperability standards.

The main standard in this area is IHE’s Radiation Exposure Monitoring (REM) profile.

A key concern for the stakeholder group will be that suppliers’ claims of compliance have yet to be independently tested. The DH will act as a monitor for the group.

A US perspective was introduced to the UKRC session by Kate MacGregor of Bayer Healthcare Radimetrics, who was responsible for setting up a dose registry in California before joining Bayer.

She explained that cumulative dose measurement was an issue with lots of factors – most cultural – driven by the growth of CT imaging in particular.

The dose registry had provided a robust tool for managing radiation exposure at both population and individual level.

It had not only enabled tracking of radiation doses, but had also provided information to clinicians that had helped them to avoid repeat images and exposure.

Patients had been seen as stakeholders, with care being managed over time rather one image at a time, MacGregor added.