The International Commission of Radiological Protection (ICRP) advises that in principle Diagnostic Reference Levels (DRL) could be used in fluoroscopically guided interventional procedures to avoid unnecessary stochastic radiation risk. The increase in complexity of interventional procedures, combined with a lack of specialist training on radiation techniques, poses a significant risk to patients. These risks have not gone unnoticed by government authorities worldwide and in 2015 the South African Department of Health: Directorate Radiation Control issued requirements to license holders of interventional fluoroscopy units, requiring that a medical physicist optimize their radiation usage using DRLs. The Dose Area Product (DAP) quantity measured for each patient represents a dosimetry index, the value of which for the purpose of improvement should be optimized against the DRL. In this dissertation, I aim to establish if DRLs in the South African private healthcare interventional theatres are high compared to international levels and whether DRLs will optimize the doses used.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:uct/oai:localhost:11427/20928 |
| Date | January 2016 |
| Creators | De Vos, Hendrik Johannes |
| Contributors | Trauernicht, Christoph Jan, Kotzé, T C |
| Publisher | University of Cape Town, Faculty of Health Sciences, Division of Medical Physics |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Master Thesis, Masters, MSc (Med) |
| Format | application/pdf |
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