title: Bulgarian experience in the establishment of reference dose levels and implementation of a quality control system in diagnostic radiology.
abstract: Results from a Bulgarian patient dose survey in diagnostic radiology are presented. Reference levels for entrance surface dose (ESD) were 0.9 mGy for chest radiography (PA), 30 mGy for lumbar spine (Lat), 10 mGy for pelvis, 5 mGy for skull (AP), 3 mGy for skull (Lat) and 13 mGy for mammography. Quality control (QC) programmes were proposed for various areas of diagnostic radiology. Film processing QC warranted special attention. Proposed QC programmes included parameters to be tested, level of expertise needed and two action levels: remedial and suspension. Programmes were tested under clinical conditions to assess initial results and draw conclusions for further QC system development. On the basis of international experience, measurement protocols were developed for all parameters tested. QC equipment was provided as part of the PHARE project. A future problem for QC programme implementation may be the small number of medical physics experts in diagnostic radiology.
authors.affiliation: National Center of Radiobiology and Radiation Protection, Sofia 1756, Bulgaria. j.vassileva@ncrrp.org
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Vassileva
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Dimov
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Slavchev
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Karadjov
mesh_terms: D002031:Bulgaria; D006801:Humans; D008327:Mammography / Q000379:methods; D011786:Quality Control; D011834:Radiation Monitoring; D011835:Radiation Protection; D011856:Radiographic Image Enhancement / Q000379:methods; D013902:Radiography, Thoracic / Q000379:methods; D011871:Radiology / Q000379:methods*; D011874:Radiometry / Q000379:methods*; D012015:Reference Standards; D014965:X-Rays