Nordic Guidance Levels for Patient Doses in Diagnostic Radiology

Abstract

Within the framework of Nordic authoritative cooperation in radiation protection and nuclear safety, recommendations have been prepared dealing with dose constraints in diagnostic radiology. A working group with participants from all the Nordic countries has met and discussed possible implementations of the ICRP dose constraint for medical radiology. Dose constraints, expressed as guidance levels, were specified for six different radiological examinations, i.e. chest, pelvis, lumbar spine, urography, barium meal and enema in units of kerma-area product and entrance surface dose. The recommendations are described in report No 5 in the series 'Report on Nordic Radiation Protection Cooperation'. Examples of dose distributions and factors affecting the patient dose are described in the report.