title: Comparison of radioactivity measurements with radionuclide calibrators in the Republic of Korea.
abstract: Recognizing the importance of comparisons of radionuclide calibrators in nuclear medicine and the need to provide access to activity standards that are traceable to the international measurement system, the Korea Food & Drug Administration (KFDA) as a national secondary standard dosimetry laboratory (SSDL), started a comparison program in 2002. The first two comparisons were conducted with (131)I (71 participants) and (99m)Tc (72 participants). The results indicated that only 61% of reported activities for (131)I and 65% for (99m)Tc were within +/-5% of the correct value. These numbers increased to 84% for (131)I and 83% for (99m)Tc when a +/-10% limit was applied. Follow-up action on those calibrators with results outside the +/-10% limits only produced a small improvement. There was also a marked difference in performance between the various calibrator types used. The results have shown that such comparisons are necessary to improve the quality of the measurements and to identify those radionuclide calibrators that are not functioning correctly.
authors.affiliation: Radiation Standards Division, Korea Food & Drug Administration, 5 Nokbun-dong, Eunpyung-gu, 122-704 Seoul, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: G-Y
authors.initials: GY
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: H-K
authors.initials: HK
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: H K
authors.initials: HK
authors.lastname: Jeong
authors.forename: M J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Woods
mesh_terms: D002138:Calibration / Q000592:standards; D019544:Equipment Failure Analysis / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards*; D017408:Guidelines as Topic; D007723:Korea; D011785:Quality Assurance, Health Care / Q000592:standards*; D011829:Radiation Dosage; D011868:Radioisotopes / Q000032:analysis* / Q000592:standards*; D011874:Radiometry / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods / Q000592:standards*; D012015:Reference Standards; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity
chemical_list: D011868:Radioisotopes